Wike has said the defection from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) by his Ebonyi State counterpart, Dave Umahi, was induced by his desperation to be President.
Wike reacting to Umahi’s formal defection on Tuesday said the Ebonyi governor was not being insincere and blackmailing the PDP for his crossover to APC on alleged injustice meted on the South-East by the PDP was not fair.
He said, “My friend, Umahi wants to be president. No problem with that. You have a right to be president. Nobody can stop you. You are educated. You have been governor for two terms, so you are qualified to say I want to be president of Nigeria.
“But, that does not mean you have to blackmail your party, and tell lies to the people you are leaving the party because of the injustice meted against the South East, that is not correct.”
Demanding Umahi to retract the allegation that PDP has not been fair to the South-East, Wike argued that under PDP, South East has produced Senate Presidents, National Vice Chairman of the PDP and Secretary to the Federal Government.
He stated, “In life, power is sweet, but conscience is important. It is most offensive and insulting for a man to lie against his party because of power.
“My reaction to Governor Umahi’s defection is not that he has no right to defect, but to say he is defecting because of injustice meted to the South East, that is insulting to the PDP.”
He urged the National Working Committee and the National Executive Committee of the PDP to take decisive steps to ensure that PDP does not die in Ebonyi State.