…As Wike endorses Gov Mohammed for president
From Paul Orude Bauchi
Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike has endorsed his Bauchi State counterpart, Senator Bala Mohammed for president come 2023, describing him as ‘over-qualified’ for the plum job.
Wike gave the endorsement yesterday when he paid a courtesy call on Mohammed at Ramat House, Bauchi.
“Mohammed is over-qualified. Let me use that word if there is any word like that at all,” he stated while fielding questions from journalists on calls by Mohammed to run for presidency even though he still has a second tenure to run as governor.
“He is qualified in every ramification. His relationship with people is second to none, so people calling on him to run for president have seen the qualities in him,” Wike maintained.
He said that the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) would gladly welcome qualified politicians like Mohammed to replace the failed leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023.
He warned that “God will never forgive PDP” if PDP fails to take advantage of the woeful failure of APC to take over power in Nigeria in 2023 to salvage the country.
On Mohammed’s presidential bid, he stated: “Apart from the fact Bala has had all the experiences, from the civil service down to political office from a director in the ministry, he became a senator, a minister and now a governor, that alone is enough to qualify him.
“Then also look at what he is doing in Bauchi. Look at his pedigree, what he is doing as a first term governor. I have been here to flag off projects. So many of my colleagues have been here to flag off projects. How many first time governors do you see doing that?”
Wike opined that the call on Mohammed to run for president in 2023 was not misplaced as the Bauchi State governor is “very qualified to run for president in this country.”
On his reason for the visit to his colleague on the New Year, Wike explained that he left Port Harcourt to be in Bauchi in an effort to make the PDP a united party and secondly because Mohammed is a special friend he holds in high esteem
“I have not even gone to see my parents. I have not seen my community. I have not seen anybody. We just decided that the first place we must be is Bauchi,” he said.
Earlier, Mohammed described Wike as an amiable person who is always full of pleasant surprises, saying that “today’s visit is a surprises.
“Today’s visit has really exhilarated a feeling in me that I have more than a brother in Rivers. I have always looked up to Wike and I have always told him he is a leader not because he is a governor or he has money, but the stuff he is made up. Very tough stuff and he is the face of PDP today and coming to Bauchi today my day has been made.”
On the agitation by some groups for him to contest the presidency, Mohammed said that he has exceeded his personal expectation of himself having once been a director, a senator, minister of FCT and a governor.
“What we are after (Wike and I ) is the unity of this country, the progress and development and Nigeria, although I cannot claim to be near him in projects because he is the face of projects.”
