Wike lashes out at former Jigawa governor Sule Lamido saying he no longer has any political relevance

GOVERNOR Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has lashed out at former Jigawa State governor Sule Lamido for criticising his refusal to accept the outcome of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primaries saying the ex-helmsman has lost his political relevance.

In late June, the PDP elected former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as its flagbearer for next year's presidential election at its annual convention in Abuja. He has since picked Delta State governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate, which has caused some consternation in the party as many members are unhappy with the ticket.

Leading the opposition to the ticket is Governor Wike, who not only came second in the party primaries but was also overlooked as a running mate. Several attempts have been made to pacify him but not only has Governor Wike rebuffed them but he has been meeting with the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) of late.

After repeated attempts to get Governor Wike to bury the hatchet have failed, several PDP members are now getting exasperated with him. Speaking on Channel’s Television Politics Today programme on Tuesday night, Governor Lamido said there was no need for any reconciliation between Wike and Alhaji Abubakar, saying nobody wronged the Rivers State governor.

In response, Governor  Wike issued a statement saying: "We have observed with disgust the disdainful remarks made by the former governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido about Rivers State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, during his recent interview on Channels Television. While, we cannot deny that Alhaji Lamido has an inalienable right to his personal opinion, we wish to declare that he, however, lacks the right to malign Governor Wike, whose immense contributions to the sustenance of the Peoples Democratic Party are not in dispute.

“It is rather appalling that at a time when concerted efforts are being made by lovers of true democracy and the unity of the party, to resolve some inherent contradictions plaguing the PDP, Alhaji Lamido and his cohorts, who have since lost their relevance in the polity, are busy creating friction and schism. As the leader of the PDP and good people of Rivers State, anyone who underrates the governor’s political pedigree or dares to ignore his influence in the state and beyond will be doing so at his own peril.

“We wish to remind Alhaji Lamido that Governor Wike has never left anyone in doubt about his capacity to sway the voters in Rivers state in a direction that benefits the people and the state, in overall. When he speaks, Rivers people will listen, perhaps Alhaji Lamido thinks Nigerians are suffering from selective amnesia to have forgotten in a hurry, the ignoble role he and his cohorts played between 2014 and 2015, that culminated in the defeat of the PDP in the 2015 general election.

“We hope that he is not up in such scheme again to cause a repeat of that history. Otherwise, if Alhaji Lamido has any modicum of conscience, he won’t be making disparaging comments about Governor Wike, whom many have described as the pillar of the PDP since 2015.

With all modesty, only persons plagued by schizophrenia psychosis will ascribe any form of relevance to Alhaji Lamido, under whose leadership the PDP has woefully lost two governorship elections in Jigawa State in quick succession. Under Lamido’s watch, as a governor of Jigawa State in 2015, the APC governorship candidate, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, scored a total 648,045 votes to defeat his PDP opponent, Mallam Aminu Ringim, who scored a total 479, 447 votes.

"Worst still, in 2019, Governor Abubakar polled 810,933, while the PDP candidate scored 288,356. Such records depict that Alhaji Lamido cannot and does not have such political following that will benefit the PDP.

"Those who want electoral victory for the PDP are not dampening the morale required for a political offensive at APC but Alhaji Lamido is cracking the wall of unity badly. Let it be told that in 2015, governor Wike, as an opposition candidate in Rivers State polled 1,029,102 votes to defeat the then ruling APC governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside, who managed to garner a paltry 124,896 votes.

“In 2019, the governor also won by landslide and these are marks of political sagacity and determination to keep PDP on a leading pedestal. So, as the 2023 general elections beckon, we wish to advise Alhaji Lamido to redeem his battered political image by delivering Jigawa State to the PDP, if he can.”