Voice of Nigeria boss Osita Okechukwu warns Wike not to back Atiku who betrayed the south

VOICE of Nigeria director-general Osita Okechukwu has warned Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State against supporting former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on his quest to become Nigeria's next president because he betrayed the south.

In late June, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), elected Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as its flagbearer for next year's presidential election at its annual convention. Governor Wike was a candidate in that election but he was beaten into second place and to make matters worse for him, he was not then picked as the party's running mate.

With Alhaji Abubakar opting to pick Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as his running mate, Governor Wike has been on the war path and there are now fears that he will dump the PDP. Among other things, he has been fraternizing with members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)  lately, amid talk of him possibly decamping.

Over the last week, there have been a series of meetings in London to resolve the crisis, with Atiku flying to the UK to meet with Governor Wike in person. Wading into the debate, Mr Okechukwu said Governor Wike might lose out on Nigeria’s political permutation if he backs Atiku, who betrayed the south.

Noting that Governor Wike is enjoying the moment, Mr Okechukwu advised him to spend his time abroad with less distraction. He described Governor Wike's recent meeting with the other presidential candidates including Bola Tinubu of the APC and Peter Obi of the Labour Party as Nollywood characteristic.

Mr Okechukwu recalled that Atiku cruised to victory when only northerners contested the PDP ticket in 2018 in Port Harcourt. He accused the former vice president of deliberately rubbishing the rotation convention of president from north to south and south to north which governed the Fourth Republic from inception in 1999.

“The grave danger of Wike making the gross mistake of going back to Atiku, who is now the new sheriff in-charge of PDP, is that he will definitely suffer from dagger’s syndrome. For Asiwaju, he will harvest from our APC spread and for Obi, his constituents and allies maybe more comfortable,” he added.

According to Mr Okechukwu, patriots from both the north and south of the country are not happy with the betrayal of the rotation convention by the PDP flagbearer. Mr Okechukwu declared that Atiku is not a unifier because such a person cannot breach the constitution of his political party and the federal character principle enunciated in Nigeria’s constitution.