2023 Election/ PDP Crisis: Wike Fires Back At Sule Lamido On Atiku Issue

The governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has responded to Sule Lamido over his statement that Wike thinks he is an emperor who determines what happens in PDP Rivers State.

 

Newsonline reports that Wike said the statements of Lamido showed he has no shame over the events of the 2015 general election when he allegedly betrayed the PDP in Jigawa State.

 

Recall that Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa State, on Tuesday, on Channels Television programme accused Wike of being a dictator and enslaving his supporters in the state.

 

Lamido challenged the decision of Wike to destroy the properties of Atiku supporters in the state and dictate the tune for party stakeholders in the state.

 

Reacting in a statement through his media aide, Kelvin Ebiri, on Wednesday, Wike described the comments credited to Lamido as disgusting and disdainful.

 

The statement reads,” We have observed with disgust the disdainful remarks made by the former governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido about Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, during his recent interview on Channels television.

 

“While, we cannot deny that Alhaji Lamido has an inalienable right to his personal opinion, we wish to declare that he, however, lacks the right to malign governor Wike, whose immense contributions to the sustenance of the Peoples Democratic Party are not in dispute.

 

READ ALSO: Atiku, Ayu: Wike Thinks He Is Emperor In Rivers, It Can’t Work- Sule Lamido

 

“It is rather appalling that at a time when concerted efforts are being made by lovers of true democracy and the unity of the party, to resolve some inherent contradictions plaguing the PDP, Alhaji Lamido and his cohorts, who have since lost their relevance in the polity, are busy creating friction and schism.

 

“But as the leader of the PDP and good people of Rivers State, anyone who underrates the governor’s political pedigree or dares to ignore his influence in the state and beyond will be doing so at his own peril.

 

“We wish to remind Alhaji Lamido that governor Wike has never left anyone in doubt about his capacity to sway the voters in Rivers state in a direction that benefits the people and the state, in overall.

 

“When he speaks, Rivers people will listen, no doubt. Perhaps, Alhaji Lamido thinks Nigerians are suffering from selective amnesia to have forgotten in a hurry, the ignoble role he and his cohorts played between 2014 and 2015, that culminated in the defeat of the PDP in the 2015 general election.

 

“We hope that he is not up in such scheme again to cause a repeat of that history. Otherwise, if Alhaji Lamido has any modicum of conscience, he won’t be making disparaging comments about governor Wike, whom many have described as the pillar of the PDP since 2015.

 

Wike reminded Lamido that he lacks electoral value in his state Jigawa having lost to the All Progressives Congress in two elections.

 

“We wish to state without equivocation that no well-meaning member of the PDP will describe governor Wike as ‘insignificant’ in the affairs of the PDP. With all modesty, only persons plagued by schizophrenia psychosis will ascribe any form of relevance to Alhaji Lamido, under whose leadership the PDP has woefully lost two governorship elections in Jigawa State in quick succession.

 

“Under Lamido’s watch, as a governor of Jigawa State in 2015, the APC governorship candidate, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, scored a total 648,045 votes to defeat his PDP opponent, Malam Aminu Ringim, who scored a total 479, 447 votes. Worst still, in 2019, governor Abubakar polled 810,933, while the PDP candidate scored 288,356.

 

“Such records depict that Alhaji Lamido cannot and does not have such political following that will benefit the PDP. Those who want electoral victory for the PDP are not dampening the morale required for a political offensive at APC, but Alhaji Lamido is cracking the wall of unity badly.

 

“Let it be told that in 2015, governor Wike, as an opposition candidate in Rivers State polled 1,029,102 votes to defeat the then ruling APC governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside, who managed to garner a paltry 124,896 votes.

 

“And in 2019, the governor also won by landslide. These are marks of political sagacity and determination to keep PDP at a leading pedestal.

 

“So, as the 2023 general elections beckon, we wish to advise Alhaji Lamido to redeem his battered political image by delivering Jigawa State to the PDP, if he can,” the statement read.