2023: Wike Flirts with Southern Presidency, Muslim-Muslim Ticket
By Ozumi Abdul
There are strong indications that Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike, will finally dump the candidature of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and work towards the actualisation of a Southern Presidency.
While the controversial Governor has been having a running battle with Atiku and the Iyorchia Ayu-led National Working Committee of the party, he has in recent weeks been holding open and discreet meetings with the candidates of the Labour Party and the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peter Obi and Bola Ahmed Tinubu respectively.
There is therefore a widely held belief around Wike that points to the fact that he may likely throw his weight behind the Muslim-Muslim arrangement of the APC if the PDP hierarchy continues to fail to yield to his conditions for peace.
Wike had fallen out with Atiku after he lost the PDP presidential primary to him and also failed to emerge as his running mate.
The Governor then started meeting with APC governors and LP leaders. He even invited some of them to commission projects in the state.
The first indication of Wike’s disloyalty to the PDP was echoed by a chieftain of the party, Prof Jerry Gana, who is loyal to the Rivers Governor, and who said openly in the state capital that if Ayu and others did not accept Wike’s demands, their camp would tell their loyalists to vote for someone else during the presidential election.
In the company of governors who are loyal to him – Ikezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Seyi Makinde (Oyo) and Samuel Ortom (Benue) – Governor Wike reportedly met with Tinubu in London recently to explore the opportunities of working together.
The group also met former President Olusegun Obasanjo alongside Obi where they according to sources discussed the possibility of working for the LP candidate.
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While they also met with Atiku before they left London, the interview the governors granted on returning to Nigeria dd not suggest any respite in sight for the PDP candidate.
“For whatever it’s worth, consultation is ongoing. Whatever we are talking about, is in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians. It is not parochial and tied to one person or group of persons. We believe that with what is going on, it will be in the interest of Nigerians at the end of the day,” he said.
He continued: “Consultation is still ongoing. Never mind some people who do not believe in the existence of this country. Leadership is not about you and your family. Leadership is about everybody.
“The only identity they have in this country is religion and ethnicity, nothing more. It’s either, I’m a Christian or I’m a Muslim, I’m a Fulani or I’m an Igbo. Nigeria cannot move forward except they think it will be them. That’s where we are.
“But with our consultations, all these will be a thing of the past. No amount of intimidation or blackmail will deter us. We are determined to right the wrongs.”
Before he went to London, Atiku had also come under various scathing attacks from Wike, with the Rivers state governor accusing him of being a liar, while reacting to the former Vice President’s statements during a live interview with Arise TV.
“Thereafter, Atiku appeared on Arise TV, see the statement he made. So many lies were told and then you said I should not react to some of those issues. That will not be fair,” Wike said.
The latest in the series of what many call Wike’s tantrums against the PDP was that his supporters should be patient that something will happen to the PDP soon.
With Chief Obasanjo rumoured to be working on Wike to support Obi and Tinubu and his group expressing optimism that the highly sought-after Wike would work for the APC without leaving the PDP, Wike looks closer to the southern candidates rooting for him that the northern candidate his party is parading.
