Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, on Sunday officially declared his intention to run for the 2023 presidency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri.
According to the statement, Wike made his declaration in Makurdi, Benue State capital, after a meeting with PDP stakeholders on Sunday.
The governor emphasised that his priority would be to tackle the festering insecurity in the country and engender rule of law.
He said: “Let me thank the people of Benue for receiving me to come and talk to them. It is obvious that I am going to run for the presidency of this country. And I am declaring for the first time in Benue state because of my special relationship with them.
“People are suspecting, but let it be known today that I am announcing it in Benue state because I have a special relationship with this state.”
The Rivers governor pledged to do things differently if elected explaining that he would pragmatically tackle the issue of insecurity.
Wike said the country’s service chiefs and heads of security agencies would be provided with the requisite equipment and incentives to discharge their constitutional obligations.
He reassured that the service chiefs would be be given a timeline to tackle the lingering insecurity as his administration would not be disposed to excuses.
He said: “Today, you can’t talk about security in this country and you must understand that without security you can’t talk about governance.