From Tony John, Port Harcourt and Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has denied campaign posters bearing his name, which were said to have flooded the streets of Abuja, yesterday.
Wike, speaking through the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Paulinus Nsirim, said the posters were the handiwork of those threatened by his rising political profile.
He said: “The attention of Governor Wike has been drawn to campaign posters bearing his name which flooded some major streets of Abuja today.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the governor has not informed anyone that he is interested in the presidency of this country.
“This is certainly the handiwork of mischief-makers, who are threatened by the governor’s rising political profile. We are amused that political detractors will stop at nothing to see how they can distract Governor Wike’ s visionary leadership. For the umpteenth time, we wish to restate that Governor Wike is presently preoccupied with his mission to make Rivers State a better place and destination of choice.
“All the puerile antics of political jobbers aimed at heating up the polity will surely fail. The public are, therefore, advised to discountenance the misinformation that is currently circulating in Abuja.”
Also, Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has said he is not nursing any plan to contest the presidency in 2023.
Daily Sun gathered that a group, under the aegis of “Project Ortomise Nigeria Ortomatically 2023,” recently called on Governor Ortom to throw his hat into the 2023 presidential race to rescue the nation from the dungeons of insecurity and other socio-economic challenges bedevilling the country.
National Coordinator of the group, Samuel Onuh, in a Facebook post on Saturday, described Ortom as the only detribalised Nigerian with the political will to reunite all aggrieved ethnic nationalities and rescue the country from the grips of Boko Haram, bandits, insurgents, militants and other fundamentalists making lives difficult for the citizens.
It was further gathered that the group had put plans in place to commence nationwide campaign aimed at pressurising the Benue State governor to heed its call and avail himself for the exalted office ahead of the 2023 general election.
A source close to Onuh said the group is mobilising 10 million women, 10 million men and 10 million youths for a march in Abuja to pressurise the two term governor of Benue State to come to the nation’s rescue.
But, in a swift reaction, Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Terver Akase, said his principal is currently preoccupied with delivering good governance to his people.
“Governor Ortom sincerely appreciates his supporters and interest groups that have taken to social media to call on him to join the 2023 presidential race.
“The governor, however, wishes to state that his preoccupation at the moment is delivering good governance to the people of Benue State.”
Akase, in the statement, said Ortom still has two and half years to complete his mandate as governor and is committed to greater service of the state.
Meanwhile, residents of Jigawa State woke up yesterday to see posters of Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello, in Dutse, the state capital,
The posters, with inscription ‘Yahaya Bello for president for a generational change’ among others, stirred confusion in the state polity as residents were seen discussing in groups about the development even as staff of the state environmental agency were seen removing some of the posters.
Governor Bello, who is an All Progressives Congress (APC) member, is believed to have the backing of many youth coalition groups that also want to cash on the membership registration exercise of the party to drive support for him.
State APC Chairman, Muhammed Umar Dikuma said, it was not for him to determine who becomes an aspirant of the party’s presidency.
