TheCable

A group known as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Frontliners says former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar should work with Nyesom Wike, Rivers governor, to win the presidential election in 2023.

The former vice-president beat Wike and Bukola Saraki, a former president of the senate, among others to pick the ticket of Nigeria’s major opposition party.

In a statement on Sunday, Hussein Aliyu Mohammed, Moses Taye Abidemi and Dan Bruce Okafor, the group’s president, secretary and spokesman, said the Rivers governor is resourceful and will help Atiku win the presidential election.

“We commend Wike for being an exemplary party man who unhesitatingly sacrificed his all for the success and benefit of others and we urge him to actualize his promise of backing whoever wins the presidential race,” the statement reads.

“We commend Nigeria’s next President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and urge him to genuinely extend a hand of fellowship to Governor Wike whose bravery and consistency has only been rewarded with betrayals from several party leaders; extremely few can dare match the steadfastness and resourcefulness that Wike can bring to the table towards the success of PDP in the 2023 presidential elections.”

They said Wike lost the ticket because he was betrayed.

“In the PDP’s presidential primaries of Saturday, May 28, 2022, Atiku won but Wike – the man who stood with PDP at all levels in those heady days when our dear Atiku opted for very prolonged stay in Dubai – did not lose to Atiku – he lost to the great treachery from Sokoto,” the group said.

“It Is an irony that in the great history of the Sokoto Caliphate which has produced numerous great men and women, there is just one man who symbolizes the greatest iconic treachery in the history of Nigerian politics.

“It is noteworthy that one man who had enjoyed the most exceptional loyalty and political support, including the sacrifice of time and huge resources from Wike now helped in no small measure to thwart Wike’s presidential ambition.”