Rivers State voted quality over political sentiments, El-Rufai commends Wike

Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai on Thursday commended Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike for choosing quality over political sentiments during the 2023 presidential elections.

El-Rufai spoke at the commissioning of the Eneka-Igbo Etche Link Road in the Obio-Akpo Local Government Area (LGA) in Rivers State.

“I want to, on behalf of our presidential candidate and our party, thank you and the good people of Rivers State for making the right choice of voting for Aiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” El-Rufai said.

He stated that the people of Rivers State chose quality over political sentiments, noting that it is the first time since the Fourth Republic started in 1999 that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was unable to get 25% of the vote in the state.

“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.”

During the election, Tinubu won 14 LGAs after polling a total of 231,591 from the 23 local government areas of the state, Peter Obi of the Labour Party came in second with 175,071 votes.

While Wike party member Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), won four LGAs with 88,468 votes.

El-Rufai added that he postponed his trip to the state until after the elections so that it would not be associated with politics.

The governor noted that Nigeria belongs to all and urged his fellow counterpart, Wike, to continue to work together with the Northern APC governors, who backed the power shift to Southern Nigeria.

“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,” El-Rufai said.

“As you rightly pointed out, we may be from different parties, but we share a few things in common: we are Nigerians, and we believe in Nigeria; we are governors, and we belong to the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, and in our forum, we try to learn from one another.”

El-Rufai said important lessons can be learned from Wike’s efforts at infrastructural transformation and human capital development.

“We have a peer review mechanism in which we draw lessons. And for me, it is important to visit Rivers State to see what lessons we can learn from your efforts at infrastructural transformation and human capital development,” El-Rufai said.

El-Rufai, however, stated that he came to Rivers State to extend the APC’s hand of fellowship to Governor Wike and the people of Rivers State so that they can continue to work together as brothers and sisters to make the country a better place for all regardless of religion, ethnicity, tribe, colour, or creed.

Wike praised El-Rufai and the Northern APC governors who supported the transfer of power to the South, saying that history would be on their side because they stood up for justice and equity.