Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, on Tuesday, refused to confirm his presidential ambition in 2023, saying there is still time to do so.
Wike was on Politics Today, a current affairs programme on Channels Television, where he was asked to confirm joining the presidential race.
However, the governor did not deny or confirm nursing the ambition.
When the anchor asked if he was running for president, Wike replied with question, “When is the time limit within which a person can declare to run or not to run? Is there a particular time limit that you can declare (ambition), so that let it not be said that ‘if you don’t declare tomorrow, you may be late?’”
When reminded that aspirants have been making their intentions known, the governor said, “So, if I want to declare to run, I must do it before Channels Television; I will not do it before my people?”
He added, “I’ve always told people that everybody has their own strategy. If I want to run for election, I have my own strategy. If you want to run for election, you have your own strategy. No doubt, people believe that by my performance, I am likely to run. There is no doubt about the belief of the people. But if I want to run for election, everybody will know that I want to run; I will tell Nigerians that today, I am declaring that I want to run election.”
The governor added that he works with people as a team. “So, it is when we have sat down and reviewed everything, and we believe that ‘yes, we think we can do this; we think we cannot do that.’ That is the way I operate. I don’t operate in isolation,” he added.
Wike also said he stands by the demand of the Southern Governors’ Forum for power to return to the South in 2023.
