Outspoken Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike on Tuesday rejected the offer of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio to join him in the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Akpabio made the indirect lobby towards Wike to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the APC during the official inauguration of the Muhammadu Buhari Nigeria Police Protection Unit comprising 68 flats and other facilities built in Port Harcourt, Rivers State by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC),.
The Minister had initially said to Wike, “I will not join others to lobby you to the APC. We have enough problems in the APC already”.
He however changed gear when he said, “Because you are not yet in APC, I won’t call you a performing Governor. When you come over to the APC, I will call you a performing Governor”.
But, in a swift reaction, Wike said he would not leave PDP “where there is malaria to a place where there is cancer”.
He went on to say at the event which had Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, who represented Buhari: “I thought we came to commission this project. I didn’t know that former governor Akpabio will turn it into a political rally.
“But, let the records put straight, I prefer to stay where there is malaria than to go to where there is cancer.
“Former governor, malaria is treatable, cancer at the fourth stage you are likely to die. So, I don’t want to die now.
“I am very comfortable to remain where Nigerians have hope,” Wike affirmed.