"I have been marked for assassination" - Governor Wike Alleges

Governor Nyesom Wike has claimed that his life is in danger as the All Progressives Congress (APC) is allegedly plotting to kill him so as to take over River state.

Wike made the allegations in an interview with Premium Times published on Monday, September 10, where he said he had informed his wife and children about the plot against him.

“They have the instrument of coercion, they can send in the army to overrun a place. This is a government that doesn’t care, it is not a democratic government, it is a dictatorship in civilian uniform. I do know that I may not likely be alive,” the governor stated.

“But should I be cowed when I know that my time will come when it will come? Look, my Attorney-General came to see me and I told him that he had to travel out for medical check-up. And he died, I never saw him again. Did you know he would die? Death will come when it will come.”

He accused the current administration of going after people perceived to be opposing alleged misrule in the country.

Wike said:“Let me tell you this, they are promoting my Commissioner of Police to become an AIG, they are promoting the Deputy Commissioner of Police to become the Commissioner of Police. This is just for the purpose of the 2019 elections in the state. And they think we don’t know?”

However, a presidency source who spoke to Vanguard condition of anonymity described Wike’s allegations against the APC as laughable .

The source said the presidency had decided not to join issues with Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state and Governor Wike.

Meanwhile, several presidential aspirants on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have reportedly kicked against the decision of the party to reduce the number of the aspirants or choose a consensus candidate.

Recall that the party's Board of Trustees (BoT) after a meeting on Sunday, September 9, set up a committee to liaise with all the presidential aspirants to discuss the possibility of having a consensus candidate.

However, The Punch reports that some presidential aspirants including ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, and a former governor of Kano state, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, on Monday disagreed with the party's call for a consensus candidate. At separate fora on Monday, the three of them expressed readiness to go for the primary and test their popularity among the members.