The Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, has warned the former governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, to stop acts that were capable of plunging the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, into crisis.
Wike also said Aliyu was a mole and a liability, in the PDP, adding that he (Aliyu) was working for other political parties to bring the party (PDP) down.
The governor in Government House, Port Harcourt yesterday, while responding to some issues raised by Aliyu in a Sunday interview, described Aliyu as a serial blackmailer, who betrayed PDP in 2015.
It would be recalled that Aliyu in an interview published on major national dailies, Sunday, had claimed that Wike was pushing to buy over the PDP. He also said Wike was a dictator who wants to install his successor and become a godfather.
However, Wike in while responding, stated that the recent actions and utterances of the former Niger State Governor were capable of inciting trouble in the party.
Wike noted that he (Wike) was not a dictator, and cannot betray his party at any point in time, noting that former northern governors, Jonah Jang of Plateau State and Sule Lamido of Jigawa State had absolved themselves from the betrayal of Aliyu.
The governor said: “There is no political dictator in Rivers State as far as PDP is concerned. That is why if there is any state the PDP is sure of winning any day any time in this country I am sure you all know that it is Rivers State.
“That is not the case of Niger state. This is a man who came out in public to say they worked against the PDP in the 2015 Presidential election. Even Jang the former Governor of Plateau state and Sule Lamido the former governor of Jigawa State came to say it was a lie they never worked against our party.
“You saw the reply of the former President to him. He is a rabble-rouser and a perpetual blackmailer. He is a chronic liar and a serial betrayer”.
Wike mentioned that Aliyu was among the party leaders, who opposed the emergence of Uche Secondus in 2017 as the Chairman of the PDP, stating that joblessness has made Aliyu become the spokesman for the Secondus-led National Working Committee.
He opined that while he has led the party to win many elections in Rivers despite federal might, Aliyu has severally lost all the elections PDP contested in Niger State.
Wike said Aliyu lacked the capacity to lead the PDP to victory in Niger because of his alleged woeful performance in the state, regretting that despite the academic background Aliyu still misquoted his (Wike’s) statement during the buildup to the election in Edo State when he said that some NWC members were tax collectors.
“I said ‘some NWC members are tax collectors’, I didn’t say ‘NWC members are tax collectors’. I stand by my words.
“This same Aliyu Babangida in 2017 was one of those who opposed Secondus to be chairman of the party. He only gave his support at the last minute when he saw that Secondus was coasting home to victory. Aliyu has no job,” he said.
