Lamido slams Wike over Rivers voters’ influence in 2023

The former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, has lashed out at Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, for claiming to have the capacity to influence electorate in the state in the 2023 general election.

Lamido said Wike alone cannot decide how the people would vote in 2023, adding that Rivers State is a strong base of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The former governor said this while speaking in an interview on Channels Television’s programme, Politics Today, on Tuesday.

Lamido, who further accused Wike of fuelling the post-presidential primary crisis rocking the PDP, said the governor imposed a governorship candidate on the Rivers State chapter of the party, in spite of complaints by other aspirants.

The former governor said: “Though I would have loved we discuss issues and not a person.

“How can somebody, who will soon become an ex-governor like me, claim to be able to determine Rivers’ votes?

“The Rivers people have been there even before him. They were there in 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011. So, it will not be correct for anybody to claim such influence on the voters,” he stated.

Lamido also faulted the position of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, Sen. Walid Jibril, saying it was wrong for him to kick against the leadership structure of the party.

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Jibril had said the North cannot produce the party’s presidential candidate and the national chairman.

The BoT chairman said it was unfair that himself, Atiku Abubakar, and Iyorchia Ayu are from the North.

Speaking on the development, Lamido said it was wrong for Jibril to decry the leadership structure of the PDP.

“The BoT chairman’s statement was in his personal capacity. Maybe he forgot that in 2007 when we had the late Umaru Yar’Adu as our candidate, we had our chairman in the person of Ahmadu Alli from the same zone.

“What we did at that time was to wait till after the election. So, I don’t see why some are calling for the resignation of the chairman now.

“We are to face the general election and we should rather be uniting than fanning the embers of division. In which way will the call for the chairman’s resignation now help us?

“It’s unfortunate that such a statement came from the BoT chairman.

“If there is a problem in the party, he should rather call the members of the party for a meeting than going on a national television to make such statement,” Lamido said.

Governor Wike and his associates have also demanded the resignation of Ayu as a condition for them to campaign for Atiku.

They said all top positions in the PDP are being occupied by northerners, noting that Ayu, who is from the North-Central, must resign as a concession to the South.

The supporters of the governor stressed that Atiku from North-East must honour his promise that once the party’s presidential standard-bearer emerges from the North, a southerner would be the national chairman.

The Star