Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, says the stakeholders in the southern region will soon take a position concerning the 2023 presidential election.

Wike spoke on Saturday at a reception organised in his honour by the Kalabari people.

“The day the south will speak, Nigeria will shake,” the governor said.

“We believe in the unity of this country, but nobody can threaten us. Nobody should threaten us. We believe in the unity of Nigeria and unity of Nigeria must continue.”

Wike said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will not give its presidential ticket to a candidate who will not serve the public interest.

He said some desperate politicians are already plotting for a candidate who would serve the interest of the affluent few.

“No amount of gang-up can make PDP give somebody who will want to run an election for the interest of some big men, and not for all Nigerians,” he said.

“Anybody who wants to be a candidate of PDP must be a candidate for the interest of Nigerians.”

Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, there have been speculations and permutations on who will become Nigeria’s next president.

In an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday, the Rivers governor said he is not carried away by PDP members who are campaigning that a particular aspirant is the best for the party’s presidential ticket.

Although he is yet to announce his bid to run for the presidency, Wike said no candidate is more suitable than him.

“For someone of my kind and my record as a governor and as a minister, I don’t see anybody who will tell me that he is much more qualified than me,” he said.