In his remarks at the luncheon, which took place on Saturday, Nyesom Wike, who is the Minister for the Federal Capital Territory, noted that Rivers State owed President Bola Tinubu a great deal for all the appointments and development initiatives carried out during his administration.
Mr Wike made the comments as part of a lunch that was organized by the Rainbow Coalition, an umbrella body of political party candidates running for governorship in the upcoming elections in the state.
Mr Wike, who previously governed Rivers State, challenged the citizens to note the degree of federal presence within the state now compared to before Mr Tinubu became president in 2023.
Mr. Wike also lambasted political aspirants who spent most of their time campaigning on television platforms rather than interacting with grassroots supporters.
The minister urged the aspiring politicians to build up their political machinery at wards and local governments levels, stressing that “elections don’t take place in TV studios but on polling units.”
He said elections are won at polling units, not in studios.
According to him, politics shouldn’t be driven by ethnicity or religion, but should be based on the ability of a leader to perform and deliver to the people.
A number of gubernatorial aspirants attended the rally, representing different political parties. They include Kingsley Chinda, Action People Party (APC), Sam Ejekwu, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Ben Eke, Action Alliance and Chima Bons, Labour Party.
The politician called the Rainbow Coalition the best political group to reckon with in the future of Rivers politics.
He was also forgiving to political colleagues, who were on both sides during previous political squabbles, and told them not to meddle in the politics of Rivers or use its natural resources.
According to him, they were all in agreement and would resist any effort to disrupt the political stability of the state.
