Wike never wanted VP spot, says Lamido

By Armstrong Bakam and Dennis Naku

July 9, 2022

A former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, said Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State had made it clear that he was not interested in becoming the candidate for the vice-presidency of the People's Democratic Party in the 2023 general election election.

The opposition party had been plunged into a crisis following the outcome of its presidential primary and the emergence of Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as the running mate of its presidential candidate. presidency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a development that prompted the party to undertake reconciliation efforts.

Some party leaders, including Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom and a former Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, had criticized the party's handling of the primary, Wike's treatment, and PDP running mate selection.

But Lamido explained that Wike, who contested the PDP presidential primary, said he was not using the primary to negotiate a vice presidential position.

The governor of Jigawa, who said he was a member of the committee that recommended three people for DPP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, however said the former vice president did not was not obliged to follow the committee's advice.

"I was on the panel. Now the criteria that members of this committee could have used may have been confined within the walls of the PDP, but they chose someone for Nigeria and not for the PDP.

"If it's all going to be PDP centered, by the time we have an inside thing, we might lose the election, no problem, but then whatever we do, we're going to take it out and tell Nigerians this is what we are giving them, this is what we have done.

"Therefore, Atiku is not obliged to choose our own recommendation. We have given him three names to choose from. In any case, (for) those who rant, Wike said that he didn't have aspirations to run for vice president and that he wasn't running for negotiation.

"He was very clear. He said everything he did was purely for that purpose and he would not use his aspiration to negotiate anything," said said Lamido at Saturday PUNCH.

Governor de Rivers had been silent since Atiku rejected him as running mate, fueling suspicion that he may not support the former vice president in the general election, having received the presidential candidate of the Labor Party, Mr. Peter Obi, and that of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso.

But Lamido, who dismissed the suspicions, said that while Wike was unhappy with the situation, the people around him were crying more than the bereaved.

The former governor of Jigawa said, "No, he is angry, he is like a boiling pot. When the pot overflows, it will overflow and what will happen? He (the spill) will spoil the body of the pot.

“Now for those who love Wike, people like me, we should make sure to remove the log from under the pot that is the fire. When this is done, the temperature of the pan will go down first.

"For people who think they love Wike more than us, beyond these emotional things, what can they do? I said, do any of 'between them, Fayose and Ortom, can take him across Nigeria and support him to win the election, right?

”

‘Lamido vs. Wike’

Meanwhile, a PDP leader and chairman of Ikwerre local government area in Rivers State, Dr Samuel Nwanosike, said the former state governor of Jigawa, Sule Lamido, was one of the committee members who voted against Wike will be chosen as the running mate of the party's presidential candidate.

Nwanosike, however, said recent remarks by Benue State Governor (Ortom) responded to comments credited to Lamido.

Nwanosike, who is a strong supporter of the Governor of Rivers State, said so in a telephone conversation with one of our correspondents in Port Harcourt on Thursday.

He said, "The answer to Lamido is in the statement of Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State. Governor Ortom has told the world the truth and no one has contradicted him. Lamido was one of the people who disagreed in the vote.

Of the 17 committee members, 14 voted in favor of Governor Wike, three voted against.

"Lamido is one of the three who voted against and went to convince the candidate of the party who was initially neutral and was waiting for the committee to make its offer."

Nwanosike described Wike as an outclass...