Wike slams Atiku, says ex-VP spreads falsehood

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, failed to tell the truth during his recent interview.

Wike accused Atiku of telling lies against him, adding that the former Vice-President used some PDP chieftains to spread falsehood against his person.

The governor said this on Friday while speaking to newsmen at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers State.

Wike, who just returned from a foreign trip, said he decided to be quiet because “PDP is a party I love so much”.

“I have moved on to conclude my social contract with the people of Rivers. However, it is time to let Nigerians know the truth,” he stated.

Governor Wike, who vowed to respond to Atiku at the appropriate time, said the speech of the APC presidential candidate while unveiling Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as his running mate for the 2023 general election was full of lies.

While speaking on the reconciliation committee set up by the PDP leadership, the governor said Atiku had yet to send any delegation to him.

The governor further stated that posterity would not forgive him if he failed to speak on the crisis rocking the main opposition party ahead of the next year’s presidential election.

He promised to speak on the crisis after the commissioning of some projects by the Rivers State government.

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Wike, however, vowed to remain in the PDP and help rebuild the party.

The Star recalls that since Atiku emerged as the PDP presidential candidate, the opposition party has been embroiled in rancour.

The crisis became worsened after the former Vice-President named Okowa as his running mate for the 2023 presidential election.

Many had expected Wike, who came second in the party’s presidential primaries, to be chosen as the party’s vice-presidential candidate.

It would be recalled that Atiku polled 371 to defeat Wike, who garnered 237 votes.

The PDP National Working Committee (NWC) later nominated three names that included Okowa, Wike, and Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, to Atiku for the party’s vice-presidential candidate.

Atiku, however, selected Governor Okowa as his running mate for the 2023 general election.

The PDP presidential candidate, while speaking in an interview recently, said he didn’t jettison the recommendation of the PDP committee on the selection of the party’s vice presidential candidate.

The former Vice-President said he chose Okowa because he felt the governor could deliver for the party in 2023.

The Star