Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is yet to announce his preferred presidential candidate despite promising to do so in January 2023.

Wike, alongside four other aggrieved governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), known as the G5, had vowed not to support the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

The Rivers State Governor had in December 2022 disclosed that he would publicly declare his preferred presidential candidate in January 2023 and openly campaign for him nationwide.

“From January next year, I will campaign to my people whom they will vote for.

“So, all of you who have been in suspense, who have been saying all kinds of things, abusing me, wait. January is here.

“Not only will I tell them (my people) whom to vote, I will move from state to state (for campaigns), and why they should vote for the person, nothing will happen,” he had said when he commissioned the tenth flyover by his administration in the Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers.

But as January ended yesterday, the controversial governor did not keep his promise of revealing his presidential candidate.

Speaking to Daily Independent on Tuesday, a member of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) said Governor Wike knows that openly backing a candidate aside Atiku may lead to his suspension by the PDP national leadership as it amounts to anti-party activities.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, said: “Wike and his allies are being careful that if they launch out by announcing a presidential candidate, the party’s hammer may fall on them.

“The party is supreme, and if they announce any other presidential candidate, they will be suspended. Forget all what Wike is saying, he is not bigger than the party. He is just one individual and can be sanctioned.

“Just like the party did recently with respect to Ekiti PDP, aside suspending the governors, they can also suspend the candidates they are backing for Senate, House of Representatives.

“When Wike made the statement, he never took it into cognizance that he can be suspended based on the constitutional provisions of the party. However, a member of the NWC granted an interview recently where he quoted from the PDP constitution that if they announce a presidential candidate aside the party’s flagbearer, they may be sanctioned.

“The truth there is nothing Wike can do if he is sanctioned. The best he can do is to go and challenge it in court and nobody knows where the litigation will end. By the end of the matter, the election would have been over and he and his candidates may lose out.”

Nigerians were hoping Governor Wike would openly declare his support for either the All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, or Peter Obi of the Labour Party.