Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike has declared he has no personal problem with National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Prince Uche Secondus.
Wike said his primary concern was to salvage the PDP from an impending doom occasioned by inept leadership.
He said: “Everybody believed that whatever the national chairman was doing was dictated by Wike and must have the backing of Wike. I believe when you support somebody, support him to succeed.
“But when things are also going wrong, if you don’t speak out, people will believe you are part of it. Therefore, I owe it as a duty to say things are not going right.”
The Governor accused some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of stirring crisis in the party because of his governorship ambition.
He warned the PDP should be wary of agents of the All Progressives Congress (APC), bent in causing division in the party.
He alleged persons causing problems in the party were some former Governors and Ministers.
The Governor said he did not have problems with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and was unaware if Atiku wants to contest the presidency in 2023 because PDP has not yet zoned it.
Wike, who spoke as a guest of a television programme in Port Harcourt, said the resolution of the internal crisis rocking the PDP allayed his initial fear of possible implosion of the party.
He noted the manner in which PDP Governors and Board of Trustee members resolved the crisis had given Nigerians hope the party was prepared to takeover the realms of power from the ruling APC in 2023.
The Governor, in a statement signed by his Special Assistant, Media, Kelvin Ebiri, explained it was not uncommon for a party to experience internal squabble in view of the forthcoming poll and varying interests, but commended PDP governors for coming together to speak with one voice to end the differences.
He said: “I use to be afraid of possibility of an implosion and that could have been the end of the party.
“But what I saw on Monday gave me a lot of confidence for the first time. I have never seen that happen, the way the Governors came together and spoke in a convivial manner with no dissenting view. I was impressed.”
Commenting on the recent court judgement on Value Added Tax (VAT) and other related taxes in the state, the Governor said the State approached the court to seek an end to perceived infraction of its rights and powers.
Wike, who accused the Federal Government of emasculating States by usurping their constitutional rights and powers, revealed the Federal Inland Revenue had surreptitiously written to the National Assembly to amend the Constitution and make collection of VAT exclusive to the Federal government.
He said: “The Federal Inland Revenue wrote a letter to the National Assembly to amend the constitution to make VAT to be in the exclusive list. So, we intercepted that letter and brought it to court because they know that under the law, it is not within their powers to collect these taxes.
“And in order to solve the problem, they wrote a letter to the National Assembly to amend the constitution to make them have the exclusive right. If they were right, they wouldn’t have done that.”
The Governor revealed that he had already sent a bill to the Rivers Assembly to empower the State Government to collect VAT and other related taxes.
