By Ishaya Ibrahim
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar rejected the plea of then President Goodluck Jonathan for support in the 2015 election, says Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
Jonathan lost his reelection bid after Atiku and other aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and lined up behind his opponent, Muhammadu Buhari.
According to Wike, the former Vice-President declined to support Jonathan’s re-election bid in 2015 despite the many entreaties by the then president.
Wike stated this when Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State commissioned the Akpabu-Itu-Umudiogha road in the Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers.
According to him, Jonathan travelled to the Dorchester Hotel in London to meet Atiku but rather, the former VP told Jonathan to relinquish his ticket to him in 2015.
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Wike, who contested the presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won by Atiku in May, 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 southerner.
Jonathan, the PDP presidential candidate in 2015, had lost his re-election to Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Atiku and his running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa, had visited Jonathan at his Abuja residence on November 17 to resolve the crisis within the PDP but nothing has been heard of the former President.
With the 2023 presidential poll about three months, there are fears that the intra-party squabbles between Wike and Atiku over the chairmanship of Ayu would affect the chances of the Adamawa-born politicians at the polls next February.
Wike and four other PDP governors known as the G5 or the Integrity Group want Ayu to step down over what they called the dominance of the north within the party.
