On Thursday, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike criticised Atiku Abubakar, the PDP’s presidential candidate, for criticising President Muhammadu Buhari’s “lopsided appointments.”
Nigerians cannot be duped, according to Wike, who criticised the former vice president for waiting seven years before coming to his recent realisation.
The governor of Rivers gave a speech at Port Harcourt, the state capital, when he welcomed Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate, to the inauguration of the Nkpolu-Oroworokwo Flyover.
On Wednesday, Atiku announced that he will build a cabinet of national unity, claiming that 17 of the heads of the security services are from the north. By ensuring equity and fairness and by reflecting the federal character system in appointments to public offices, he pledged to unify Nigeria.
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Wike, however, criticised Atiku for being silent for more than seven years and insisted that Nigerians are not easily duped.
“Some people now are criticising Buhari for appointing all the service chiefs from the north. Why did they not challenge Buhari since? Election has come. Who is fooling whom? All these past seven years, you have not challenged Buhari but election has come. Nobody can fool anybody,” the Rivers governor stated.
Wike, who ran against Atiku in the PDP’s presidential primaries in May, recommended the party’s nominee to begin his “national unity” government within the PDP by making sure Iyorchia Ayu resigned as the party’s national chairman.
For months, Wike and four other PDP governors have been engaged in a constant conflict with Atiku. The governors, collectively referred to as the “G5”, demand Ayu’s resignation on the grounds that northerners cannot hold the position and that of the party’s presidential nominee.
“Some people said they will form a government of national unity. It is not to talk but start now to implement it. If you cannot implement the small one, is it the big one (you will implement?)
“I pity poor Nigerians. When I heard people go to townhall meetings and said all kinds of things: they said they will implement restructuring, they will make sure that every zone will have a member in the security council, that it is not good for one zone to produce all the security chiefs but it is good for one zone to occupy all party positions. You see how Nigerians are,” the governor stated.
Wike added that despite the situation, he will remain in the party and root out the “armed robbers” there.
