More details have emerged about why Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, rejected Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike’s recommendation as his running mate for the 2023 election.
Mr. Atiku named Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his vice presidential candidate on Thursday, 18 days after the former vice president won the party’s presidential primary in Abuja for the second time.
Mr Wike, who finished second in the primary, was one of three governors proposed by the PDP’s ad hoc committee for consideration as Mr Atiku’s running mate. Mr. Okowa and Udom Emmanuel, the governor of Akwa Ibom State, were among the others.
Mr. Atiku, on the other hand, told senior party officials that he couldn’t work with Mr. Wike. Apart from characterizing him as a direct opponent, the candidate said that Mr Wike dislikes him, recalling how he nearly blocked his candidacy at the party’s National Convention in Port Harcourt in 2018.
Mr Wike had backed Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal at the time, who came in second place in the primary election.
Ironically, Mr Tambuwal’s resignation and endorsement of Mr Atiku moments before voting began at the party’s Abuja convention on May 29 were crucial in Mr Atiku’s 371 to 237 victory over Mr Wike.
Following the convention, Mr. Atiku paid a visit to Governor Wike at his Abuja residence, during which the governor pledged his entire support for the candidate and the PDP in the general elections.
“Atiku was horrified after Wike returned to Port Harcourt and publicly attacked his colleague governors for supporting Atiku in the primary,” a party insider said.
Mr Atiku also feels that Mr Wike’s feud with the party’s former National Chairman, Uche Secondus, who was later ousted from the position last year, stemmed from the governor’s belief that Mr Secondus had grown close to him (Atiku).
Many party elders and officials, according to the source, felt that electing Mr Wike would split the party rather than unite it, citing the fact that many of his fellow governors in the South-south and South-east do not agree with his policies.
“Our leaders acknowledge the role Wike played in ensuring the survival of the party during its trying moments, but they do not like his boastful ways and the way he always threatened the party and party leaders to have his way every time.
“They believe that such a combative and garrulous person cannot be suitable for the role of vice president and that is the reason many party leaders were against Wike,” the source said.
Following Mr Wike’s impressive performance in the primary, in which he won delegates from throughout the country, his fans and many party leaders pushed Mr Atiku to choose him as his running mate in order to unite the party ahead of the presidential election on February 25, 2023.
Mr Atiku is believed to have offered to consider Mr Okowa for nomination as his running mate in the primary in order to win the votes of Delta State’s delegates.
After Mr Wike’s push for inclusion on the ticket gained traction, Mr Atiku promised the Rivers governor or his nominee the Niger Delta affairs post if he won the election, but the governor turned down the offer.
To avoid being accused of picking Peter Obi as his running mate for the 2019 election on his own, Mr Atiku chose to involve the party’s leadership in the selection process.
The party formed a 17-member committee to recommend candidates for the position after conversations between the candidate and the party’s National Working Committee, Board of Trustees, and state governors.
Despite rumors that the committee decisively agreed to propose Mr Wike between Tuesday and Wednesday, InsightnaijaTV has learned that it merely suggested the three governors for the position.
Mr Atiku had planned to meet with Mr Wike on Thursday morning to personally inform him of his decision, but after learning that Mr Okowa was the preferred candidate, the Rivers governor flew out of Abuja approximately 30 minutes before the scheduled meeting time.
It’s unclear whether Atiku and Mr Wike have communicated since then, but the governor has yet to make a public statement on his party’s presidential candidate’s choice of a running mate.
