A former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, has said
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State made it clear that he was not interested
in becoming the vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in
the 2023 general election.
The opposition party had been immersed in a crisis following
the outcome of its presidential primary and the emergence of the Delta State
Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as the running mate of its presidential candidate,
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a development which prompted the party to begin
reconciliation efforts.
Some party leaders, including the Benue State Governor,
Samuel Ortom, and a former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, had criticised
the party’s handling of the primary, Wike’s treatment and the selection of the
running mate of the PDP.
But Lamido explained that Wike, who contested the presidential primary of the PDP, said he was not using the primary to negotiate for a VP slot.
The Jigawa governor, who said he was a member of the
committee that recommended three persons for presidential candidate of the PDP,
Atiku Abubakar, however, said the former vice president was not obliged to the
committee’s advice.
“I was on the panel. Now, the criteria the members of that
committee might have used might have been confined within the walls of the PDP,
but they chose somebody for Nigeria not for the PDP.
“If the whole thing is going to be centered on the PDP, by
the time we have an in-house thing, we may lose the election, no problem, but
then, whatever we do, we are going to bring it outside and tell Nigerians that
this is what we are giving them, that was what we did.
“Therefore, Atiku is not obliged to pick our own
recommendation. We gave him three names to choose from. In any case, (for)
those who are ranting, Wike said he didn’t have the aspiration to run for vice
president, and that he was running not for any negotiating purposes. He said
so.
“He made it very clear. He said whatever he did was purely
for that purpose and will not use his aspiration to negotiate for anything,”
Lamido said.
The Rivers governor had maintained silence since Atiku
rejected him as his running mate, fuelling the suspicion that he might not
support the former vice president in the general elections, having received the
presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, and that of the New
Nigeria Peoples Party, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso.
But Lamido, who dismissed the suspicion, said though Wike
was unhappy about the situation, people around him were crying more than the
bereaved.
The former Jigawa governor said, “No, he’s angry, he’s just
like a boiling pot. When the pot boils over, it will spill over and what will
happen? It (the spill) will mess up the body of the pot.
“Now, for those who love Wike, people like me, we should
make sure we remove the log from under the pot which is the fire. When that is
done, the temperature of the pot will come down first.
“For people who think that they love Wike more than we do,
beyond these emotional things, what can they do? I’ve been saying, can any of
them, Fayose and Ortom, take him around Nigeria and support him to win the
election, can they?
‘Lamido against Wike’
Meanwhile, a chieftain of the PDP and Chairman of Ikwerre
Local Government Area of Rivers State, Dr Samuel Nwanosike, said the former
governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, was one of the committee members that
voted against Wike to be selected as the running mate to the party’s presidential
candidate.
Nwanosike, however, said the recent remarks by the Benue
State Governor (Ortom) had answered the comments credited to Lamido.
Nwanosike, who is a strong supporter of the Rivers State
governor, stated this during a telephone chat with one of our correspondents in
Port Harcourt on Thursday.
He said, “The reply
to Lamido is in the statement by Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State. Governor
Ortom has told the world the truth and nobody has contradicted him. Lamido was
one of the people that dissented in voting. Out of the 17 members in the
committee, 14 voted in favour of Governor Wike, three voted against.
“Lamido is one of the three that voted against and went and
convinced the candidate of the party who initially was neutral and was expecting
the committee to do their bid.”
Nwanosike described Wike as an outstanding leader that
believe that power should come to the
South for equity, justice and fairness.
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