PDP crisis: Wike breaks silence, calls Atiku a liar

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, has said that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar told many lies dur

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, has said that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar told many lies during his recent interview.

Wike, who spoke on Friday morning, 29 July, at the Port Harcourt International Airport, said: “Thereafter he (Atiku) appeared before Arise Television, see the statements he made. So many lies were told. I have decided to be quiet because PDP is a party I love so much. I have moved on to conclude my social contract with the people of Rivers. However, it is time to let Nigerians know the truth.”

It would be recalled that Atiku had stated that did not pick Wike as his running mate because he wanted someone he could work with ‘amicably.’

The PDP candidate had picked Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Delta, as his running mate for the 2023 presidential election, despite the party’s national working committee (NWC) endorsing Wike for the role.

In the party’s presidential primary held in May, Atiku polled 371 votes to emerge as the PDP’s flagbearer ahead of Wike who scored 237 votes to come second in the contest.

Speaking on his choice of vice-presidential candidate, Atiku said he opted for Okowa instead of Wike because he wanted someone that could “deliver the policies of the party, and also try to unify the country.

“Governor Wike was not rejected. Nobody was rejected in the party. But you must understand that it’s the prerogative of the candidate to pick his running mate, a running mate he believes he can work with amicably, and then also deliver the policies of the party, and also try to unify the country,” Atiku had said.

Governor Wike also faulted the speech by the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on the day he unveiled Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate.

He accused the former vice president of telling lies against him, as well as using some chieftains of the main opposition party to spread falsehood against his person.

The governor vowed to respond to both the party’s flagbearer and the party chieftains whom he described as Atiku’s ‘attack dogs’ one-by-one and line by line in due time.

He said posterity would not forgive him should he fail to set the record straight and promised to clear the air after the commissioning of the projects lined up for inauguration by the state government.

On the reconciliation committee set up by the PDP leadership, Governor Wike stated that former Vice President Atiku had yet to send any delegation to him.

He, however, said a former President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, met with him in Spain, although in his personal capacity.

According to the governor, the former vice president came to his house to beg for support but suddenly does not know the way to his house any longer.

He went on to challenge anyone to identify that he or she was sent by the PDP candidate to speak to him about the issue in the PDP and the aftermath of the party’s presidential primary.

Governor Wike who said the idea of setting up a committee was only being seen in the media, however, insisted that he would remain in the PDP and help rebuild the party.

“I am not a slave and will not be a slave. I am freeborn of the country,” he declared.