Wike Rejects Plans To Join APC, Frowns At Muslim-Muslim Ticket

 

Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike has rejected plans to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

 

According to Daily Independent, he also rejected moves to work for APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in the 2023 general elections.

 

A key associate of the governor, who spoke with Daily Independent on Thursday, said while Wike has insisted that he will not support Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he has also made it clear that he will have nothing to do with the APC over their choice of a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

 

Wike and his loyalists are currently up in arms against Atiku who announced Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as his running mate in June.

 

Although the committee saddled with the task of picking the party’s vice presidential candidate, consisting of representatives of former governors, incumbent governors, the NWC and the Board of Trustees members agreed to allow Wike, who came second in the presidential primaries to run with Atiku, the former vice president ignored the recommendation and announced Okowa as his running mate.

 

The development has caused a great wedge in the party as some governors loyal to Wike who are unhappy with Atiku’s decision, have continuously boycotted the party’s programmes.

 

Seeking to capitalise on this rift, the APC and its presidential candidate, Tinubu, have been making overtures to Wike to join the party and work for their victory.

 

Last month, some APC governors, led by the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State; Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), met with Wike at his Ada George residence in Port Harcourt.

 

Even though the outcome of the meeting was not disclosed to the media, sources said it was in a bid to convince Wike to join the APC.

 

Also a chieftain of the APC, Joe Igbokwe, had said Tinubu and Wike met in France last month but this was denied by Tinubu’s media team.

 

Speaking with Daily Independent, a former federal lawmaker in Rivers State who is a close associate of Governor Wike said while it is true that the APC and other political parties are trying to curry Wike’s favour, he has made it clear that he is not leaving the PDP.

 

On why Wike has been inviting APC leaders to his project commissioning in Rivers while snubbing PDP leaders, he said the governor is unhappy with some leaders in the PDP who have failed to tell Atiku the truth. “The governor is not somebody who hides his feelings.

If Wike wants to fight you, he doesn’t hide behind somebody to do so. Clearly, he is unhappy with some leaders of the PDP for not speaking the truth to Atiku, especially by condemning the interview he granted recently which further worsened an already bad situation in the party.

 

Speaking with Daily Independent on Thursday, Kola Ologbondiyan, the immediate past National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, said he was confident that the issues in the PDP, especially between Atiku and Wike, will be resolved very soon.

 

He said rather than join APC, Wike will join hands with other Nigerians in rescuing the country from the clutches of the ruling party in 2023.