Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike on Sunday urged the Church to stay alert as desperate politicians would implore all the 2023 general elections.                                  

The governor gave the caution during the Rivers Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  Dedication Service for 2023 Election Campaigns at the St. Paul’s Cathedral, Diobu-Port Harcourt.   

Wike, told the Church in Nigeria to ‘shine its eyes’, a Nigerian lingo to be alert to current happenings, and not be dragged unnecessarily into political intrigues.

“All of us should participate in the politics of Nigeria but the church must not be used as if we are fighting a religious war.

“We have to be careful so that the church is not destroyed,” the governor said.

Wike said just as the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is not good for democracy, so also is it unacceptable for a northerner – PDP’s Atiku Abubakar – to take over from Katsina-born President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

“We cannot hand over govt to unserious people,” Wike said, adding that political parties must pay to use any public facility in Rivers.

Wike has been in loggerheads with the Atiku over the insistence of the national chairman of the PDP, Iyorchia Ayu not to relinquish his position as purportedly agreed upon the emergence of a northern presidential candidate from the party.