Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has said Senator Dino Melaye lacks the capacity to govern a state.
Melaye is among the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) aspirants gunning for the party’s ticket for the November governorship election.
But speaking during a media chat in Port Harcourt, capital of the state, on Tuesday, Wike said Melaye cannot defeat other governorship candidates if he wins the PDP ticket.
“When you give Dino that ticket you know he won’t win in Kogi state,” he said.
“You’re talking about governance of a state, we are not talking about drama. Dino does not have what it takes. What is he going to do? Why would Kogi people say they will vote for Dino? Are we joking?
“He does not have what it takes to be a governor at all. It is not about coming to act drama on television.”
Melaye on Sunday took to his Twitter page to call on his supporters and followers to lend him support ahead of the governorship poll.
He said he was confident that the state will rise again if he becomes the governor of the state.
Melaye wrote: “Let’s do it together. We shall recover Kogi State.”
There were speculations that the presidential candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was supporting Melaye.
But the media adviser to the presidential candidate, Paul Ibe, dismissed the allegation, saying his boss has no preferred candidate in the party primary.
Wike also said the process to elect the party’s flag-bearer should be free and credible to allow the best candidate emerge.
“Elections will come like what they are going for now in Kogi state. Of course, you have seen what is going on — how lists have been changed to favour a particular candidate (whose candidacy) as far as I am concerned is dead on arrival,” he said.
(Daily Trust)