East Sepik Governor Allan Bird has publicly declared he has relinquished his nomination as the alternate Prime Minister nominee. This follows local media reports this afternoon that after long continuous meetings between members of the opposition, Opposition Leader Douglas Tomuriesa had announced the nomination of Former Finance Minister and Finschhafen Mp, Rainbo Paita as the Alternate Prime Minister, should they be successful following the vote of no-confidence motion. The Members of the Opposition Caucus are camping at the Sanctuary Hotel. Governor Bird issued a statement tonight confirming this. "As is customary in our politics, the person with the most support receives the nomination." "In this instance, the man of the hour is the Honourable Rainbo Paita," Bird explained. "I left Government because, like many MPs, I don't see any solutions for our challenges from this government." "I left to help fight bad decisions of the government that are affecting our people every day." "So, this wasn't a difficult decision." "We waited for 3 months for our leaders to come and join us." "The majority of our leaders don't like the direction our country is going, but they lack the will to make the change." "We are grateful for the courage shown by this group of leaders led by Hon Paita." His statement went on with him thanking the 18 members of Parliament who gave their support in February this year: Sir Julius Chan, Peter O'Neil, Sir Puka Temu, Kerenga Kua, Belden Namah, Robert Atiyafa, David Arore, Douglas Tomuriesa, Rufina Peter, Simon Sia, James Nomane, Keith Iduhu, Sam Basil, Maso Hewabi, David Morris, William Hagahuno and Johnson Wapunai. "We have been a faithful, hardworking Opposition, but we have fallen short and need the help." "It was a great honour and privilege to be nominated." "I am an Independent MP, and this support was totally unexpected and undeserved, so thank you all so much." "To the Hon Paita and the team, the country needs a change of government, it needs a good government that cares for the people." "Thank you and your team for the courage you all demonstrated by leaving the Marape government." "Our 19 remain committed to changing the Government and bringing relief to our struggling people." "We will not be moved, and we remain committed to this cause." "Many people will say Hon Paita is too young and inexperienced." "Whether that has merit is not for me to say, as I was convinced in 2019 that Marape was the right person to lead the country." "I was wrong." "So, I certainly have no right to judge the Hon Paita." "He is a mandated leader elected by his people." "I respect his mandate given by the people of Finschaffen." "I must respect the number of leaders who support him also." "With that, I want to thank all the people of PNG for your wonderful support and kind wishes to myself and the team over the past 3 months." "I know many of you will be disappointed, but this is a decision based on numbers, I am only one man with 18 MPs in support." "I simply don't have the confidence of enough MPs and I must by convention concede and hand over to those who have the numbers to continue your fight." "I hope you will extend that same support to the Hon Rainbo Paita as he leads us to change the government for the better." "Whatever happens, I want to assure you all that I will remain in Opposition and continue to fight bad decisions of the government until the end of my term."