Nyesom Wike, the Rivers State Governor has broken his silence on the internal crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party. The crisis began follows the
Nyesom Wike, the Rivers State Governor has broken his silence on the internal crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party.
The crisis began follows the party’s presidential primaries and subsequent selection of its vice presidential candidate.
The PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, chose the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as his running mate ahead of Wike whom many party chieftains had believed would emerge as the PDP’s vice-presidential candidate.
Those who opposed Atiku’s choice include the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom and former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose.
Ortom had on June 29, 2022, during an interview on Arise TV, said Wike, and others who backed the Rivers governor for the PDP vice-presidential ticket slot deserved a detailed explanation from the party’s presidential candidate on his choice of running mate.
Ortom said it was surprising that Atiku could jettison the recommendation of 14 out of 17 members of the committee that recommended Wike as his running mate.
However, speaking in an exclusive interview with Arise TV which was aired on Friday morning, Atiku said he chose who he felt could deliver among the nominees that were presented to him.
He added that Wike was not rejected and that he only picked who could deliver.
He said, “I didn’t reject Wike, I picked who can deliver. Wike is brilliant and tenacious. Going by history, I picked an Igbo as running mate in 2007, in 2019. I still picked an Igbo as running mate for 2023.
“The committee that presented the three nominees was chaired by the Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom. They recommended three people, so I picked one. People should be fair to me and state the facts.”
However, in his first reaction to the controversy after Okowa’s emergence on Saturday, Wike who tweeted via his official Twitter handle @GovWike noted that he would soon speak on recent happenings in the party.
“I will speak soon and Nigerians will know the actual truth of all that has transpired in the PDP in recent times,” the Rivers governor said.
Recall that Atiku had after announcing Okowa as his running mate clarified that he picked the Delta governor because he (Okowa) had the qualities to be a President, adding that he “is a President-in-waiting.”
