Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has commended his counterpart in Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, for supporting the power rotation to Southern Nigeria. The Governor was in Rivers state to commission the Eneka-Igbo Etche Link Road in the Obio-Akpo Local Government Area, and he took the opportunity to praise the people of the state for voting for “quality over political sentiments”.
During his address at the event, El-Rufai conveyed his appreciation on behalf of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate for the support of the people of Rivers State in voting for Aiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. El-Rufai also mentioned that the outcome of the 2023 presidential elections in Rivers State was unprecedented since the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) failed to get 25% of the votes.
“It shows that the people of Rivers State can differentiate and they know when to vote for quality, and they voted quality over political sentiments. We want to thank you for providing that leadership, Governor Wike,” he said.
In response, Wike expressed gratitude to El-Rufai and the Northern APC governors who backed the power shift to the South. He applauded their efforts to ensure justice and equity in the country and noted that history would be on their side.
It is worth noting that before the presidential election, Wike teamed up with four other PDP governors and formed the G5 group, which aimed to push for power rotation to the South after the eight-year tenure of the incumbent Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, from the North-West geopolitical zone.
On February 15, days before the presidential poll, Tinubu met with Wike in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, the latest of their many pre-election engagements known to the public. Tinubu, 70, eventually emerged victorious in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states, securing almost two million more votes than his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar.
El-Rufai, who is a powerbroker in the APC, deferred his visit to Rivers State until after the elections to prevent political connotations from being attached to his visit. In his words, “This country belongs to all of us, and we have a duty to do all that it takes to make Nigeria an egalitarian, progressive, and prosperous society.”
He urged Wike and the people of Rivers State to continue to work together with the Northern APC governors, stating that despite their political differences, they share a common goal of making Nigeria a better place for everyone, irrespective of their ethnicity, religion, or creed.
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