Wike insisted that the PDP must urgently address the issue and appeal to Nigerians otherwise people would begin to see the party as one that lacked justice and equity.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) needs to address the controversial comments made by its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Atiku had said over the weekend at an event that the average northerner needs a northerner as president not an Igbo or Yoruba candidate.
He said, “I know the whole of this country. I have built bridges across this country. I think what the average northerner needs is somebody who is from the north, who also understands the other parts of Nigeria, and who has been able to build bridges across the rest of the country.
“This is what the northerner needs. He (the northerner) doesn’t need a Yoruba candidate or an Igbo candidate. This is what the northerner needs. I stand before you as a pan-Nigerian of northern origin.”
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Wike, who has been away in Spain with some of his allies, spoke on Atiku’s comments on his arrival on Monday in Port Harcourt.
The governor said that though he doubts the possibility of Atiku making such a statement at a critical time of the nation’s history, such disposition of the presidential candidate would justify his fight for equity, justice and fairness in the PDP.
Wike insisted that the PDP must urgently address the issue and appeal to Nigerians otherwise people would begin to see the party as one that lacked justice and equity.
Wike also challenged the National Chairman of the Party, Iyorchia Ayu, on his defense of the corruption allegations he levelled against him and condemned as ridiculous, the recommendations of the party’s Board of Trustees on the crisis in the PDP.
The board had recommended that Ayu resigns after the general elections next year.
Wike had earlier said that the national leadership of the PDP needs to do the right thing, if the party must win the presidential election in 2023.
The right thing, Wike insisted, is the resignation of Ayu as PDP national chairman, in order for a southerner to occupy the seat within the principle of equity, fairness and justice.
He emphasised that any leader of a group who causes crisis within the group that he leads, truly lacks the requisite skills to navigate affairs of such group.
“This is the time to show leadership skill on the part of those who are leaders of the party. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is the presidential candidate. He is the one who feels the pain,” he said.
