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By Chinelo Obogo
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has revealed that in 2015, former President Goodluck Jonathan pleaded with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to support his re-election bid but his entreaties were rejected
Wike said this on Tuesday during the commissioning of the Akpabu-Itu-Umudiogha road in the Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers.
He said after Jonathan emerged the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015, he (Jonathan) travelled to the Dorchester Hotel in London to meet Atiku to beg for his support but that instead, the former VP told Jonathan that the only option he had was to relinquish the PDP ticket to him.
Wike, who contested the presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but lost out, said he is not asking Atiku to step down as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 elections. He said, instead, Atiku should ensure the removal of Iyorchia Ayu as PDP national chairman for a replacement from the South.
“We forget history. In 2015 when Jonathan as a sitting President, I am not talking as a presidential candidate but as a sitting President, when he had won his primary, former President Jonathan went to London to Dorchester Hotel, he went to plead with Atiku Abubakar to come back to the party and support him.
“You know the condition he (Atiku) gave Jonathan? He should relinquish his ticket not to run as the President of Nigeria. That was the presidential candidate of a ruling party. He gave him a condition, telling him to relinquish that ticket.
“Today, we are not saying the presidential candidate should relinquish his ticket; we are not being selfish, we are saying since you are now the presidential candidate, let our people take chairmanship,” Wike said
Atiku and his running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa, recently visited Jonathan at his Abuja residence on November 17 to resolve the crisis within the PDP but nothing has been resolved.
Wike and the Integrity Group made up of Governors Samuel Ortom of Benue, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia and Seyi Makinde of Oyo, have insisted that Ayu must step down for a southerner over what they called the dominance of the north within the party.
