Wike has said that Atiku disrespected and sidelined him by picking the Rivers State presidential campaign nominees without his consent.
Newsonline reports that the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, on Monday, said that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, disrespected him by picking the state’s PDP presidential campaign nominees without his contribution.
The governor said this while inaugurating the PDP campaign council and the launching of the party’s governorship campaign office in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
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He accused Atiku of selecting “enemies” of Rivers into his campaign council for the 2023 general elections.
Wike stressed that the photos of Atiku and those of the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, have been missing from the state’s PDP campaign materials because they don’t want him to campaign for the party at the national level.
“Some people have asked me why they haven’t seen the presidential candidate’s picture and the party chairman’s. I said what are you talking about? The presidential candidate entered my state and picked members of the presidential council without a whole (sic) governor of a state having a contribution,” he said.
“The presidential candidate entered Rivers State and picked those he wants to pick without my contribution. So, they said they don’t need me to campaign for them, that they don’t need Rivers people to campaign for them. Will you force yourself?
“I have never seen how people will disrespect a state like Rivers State and go and choose those who are enemies of the state without our contributions.”
Speaking on who he and his team will campaign for in the forthcoming election, Wike said they will only campaign for the party’s governorship candidate, the senatorial candidates, and others who carried them along.
“If they want us to be involved in the campaign, they will come and tell us. If he (Atiku) thinks we are important, they will come and meet us,” the governor maintained, adding that nobody can intimidate Rivers when he is still governor of the state.
Recall that Wike has been at loggerheads with Atiku and the PDP over issues bordering on the sharing of positions in the party, a development that led to the call by Wike’s camp that the national chairman of the party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, should resign.
It was learnt that some members of the Atiku camp were dissatisfied with the treatment meted on the presidential candidate on some matters bordering on the crisis in the party.
