The governor of Rivers State and chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national campaign council for the Edo State governorship election, Mr. Governor Nyesom Wike, has said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) appointed the governor of Kano State, Mr. Abdullahi Ganduje chairman of the campaign council for the election because of the dollars they saw.
Ganduje, during a media briefing in Abuja, on Monday, July 6 said, “We know the PDP made Wike their (campaign council) chairman. I assure you; we will isolate Wike in an isolation centre and before he recovers, the election is over.”
Replying, Wike said during the inauguration of the PDP campaign council in Abuja on Tuesday that Ganduje, is the one who deserves to be isolated.
“Nobody can intimidate us in this election. Yesterday, I was told and I read on the pages of newspapers that one Governor Ganduje said that he is going to isolate me until the election is over. If Nigeria is supposed to be a country, who is supposed to be isolated?
“A man who pockets dollars in babanriga (flowing gown) from contractors is not isolated and you say that me should be isolated. In this country where are we heading to?
It would be recalled that in 2018, a video went viral showing Ganduje pocketing vast wads of American dollars in what was said to be bribe payments from public works contractors.
The governor was seen collecting the dollars before rolling them into his white dress, “babanriga,” in one of a series of questionable deals allegedly struck over a span of several months.
The two minutes video was recorded in 2017 in what Daily Nigerian described as a sting operation aimed at beaming a spotlight on the governor’s alleged penchant for contract racketeering.
Ganduje debunked the video as “cloned” and threatened a sweeping lawsuit against its publisher.
“But what he doesn’t understand is that we are from the Niger Delta; we shall chop his dollar and we will chop him to a coma. So, Ganduje, your dollar will not work in Edo State, we have integrity in our party,” said Wike.
On behalf of members of the council, Wike promised to ensure victory for the PDP in the Edo election.
Earlier, in his address, the national chairman of the PDP, Mr. Uche Secondus asked the President Muhammadu Buhari-led regime to save the nation’s democracy by ensuring that the votes of the people counted not only in Edo State, but across states where elections would be held going forward.
“We recall that it’s in Edo State that President Goodluck Jonathan was in a ruling party when Comrade Adams Oshiomhole won election twice as a member of the opposition because of the transparency of the time.
“As we go into this election in the same Edo, the situation in our country is different not just because of the global COVID-19 pandemic that has changed the World order, but more due to the prevailing uncertainties in our land,” he said.
