Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State says it is against the constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the national chairman and presidential candidate to come from the same region.
Wike spoke on Thursday at the inauguration of a campus of the Rivers State University in Ahoada east LGA of the state.
The opposition party has been in crisis since May when former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar became the PDP presidential candidate.
Party stakeholders expressed concern that Wike was overlooked for Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Delta, who Abubakar chose as his running mate.
Wike demanded that Iyorchia Ayu, PDP national chairman, should step down — as a precondition for resolving the crisis. But Ayu has since dismissed the call.
Following concerns that the north is dominating the affairs of the party, Walid Jibrin, chairman of PDP board of trustees (BoT), resigned earlier on Thursday.
But the Rivers governor said Jibrin’s resignation is not the issue the party should focus on.
“They said Jibrin should resign. Who is talking about that? Do you want me to accept that the candidate and the chairman should come from the same place? I asked them to tell me the truth and they said no,” the governor said.
“I don’t like people when you are talking they will say ‘interest of Nigerians’. Who defines the interest of Nigerians, you?
“You that refused to obey the constitution of their party, are you speaking in the interest of Nigerians?”
