Governor Nyesom Wike has apologised to leaders and presidential aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party for his anti-party outburst on Wednesday, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.
At a National Executive Committee meeting of the party Friday afternoon, the Rivers State governor showed remorse for his comments and assured party leaders he would be more guarded going forward, those who attended the meeting have informed PREMIUM TIMES.
“When we demanded apology from him, he apologised and the party has reconciled,” Okwesilieze Nwodo, a former chairman of the PDP who attended the NEC meeting today told PREMIUM TIMES.
Mr Nwodo, a former governor of Enugu State, said it was after Mr Wike’s apology that the party went on to have a “unanimous decision” to move the party’s convention for election of presidential candidate to Port Harcourt, at the heart of Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger-Delta.
“He apologised at the meeting and promised to refrain from such comments from now on,” another source who was present at the meeting told PREMIUM TIMES under anonymity because he assumed speaking on record could damage his friendship with Mr Wike.
Mr Wike sparked political tension amongst PDP leaders and presidential aspirants when he said on Wednesday that the presidential primaries must hold in Port-Harcourt, saying unequivocally that any contrary venue would be politically costly for the PDP at next year’s presidential election.
Although some of the party’s over a dozen presidential aspirants held reservations about the outburst, they were reluctant to openly confront him, PREMIUM TIMES learnt, preferring instead to keep their misgivings away from the media.
“It is unfortunate that this man is behaving like he owns the party, but he would soon learn that no man is an island and a man who is indispensable has not been born,” a presidential aspirant told PREMIUM TIMES by telephone Friday night.
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