Security chiefs: Wike blasts Atiku for criticising Buhari
There appears to be no end to the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Yesterday, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike reignited his feud with the party leadership.
He accused the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, of hypocrisy.
According to him, the presidential candidate has no moral basis to criticise President Muhammadu Buhari over the alleged lopsided appointment of security chiefs.
Wike said Atiku should first ensure there is equity in his party before faulting the President over a similar issue.
Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, is worried that the Atiku/Wike feud could harm the party’s chances in next year’s election.
To him, the PDP’s chances are slim with the persistence of the divisions.
But the Atiku campaign organisation dismissed insinuations that the group of five (G5) governors demanding equity in the party have left.
Wike wondered why it took Atiku over seven years to speak out, adding that no one would take the presidential candidate seriously if he does not first put his house in order.
Wike and the G5 have been demanding the resignation of PDP National Chairman Iyorchia Ayu because, according to them, it is unjust for him and Atiku to come from the same regional bloc.
The Rivers governor vowed not to abandon the party to persons he described as vultures, hyenas and scavengers.
Wike said he would not blame the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, for leaving the party following the humiliation he suffered.
The governor spoke when he led Obi to inaugurate the Nkpolu-Oroworokwo Flyover in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Thursday.
He said: “You were a member of our party, but you left our party and I know why you left the party. I don’t blame you for leaving the party.
“Nobody would have suffered the humiliation you suffered. I know. Most of you don’t know. Nobody will hear what you passed through and remain.
“I will not leave. I will stay here and I will fight the vultures, the hyenas and the scavengers. I am not blaming you.
“On principle, you should but I won’t leave this house. I will never allow armed robbers to take over my house. I am going to stay to chase the armed robbers.
“If you have not left, you would not have pursued your ambition to save Nigeria. That is his ambition, but whether he is the one I do not know yet. At the appropriate time, we will talk”.
On Atiku’s criticism of President Buhari over alleged lopsided appointments of service chiefs, Wike said: “ I hear people go to town hall meetings and say all kind of things.
“They say: ‘I will implement restructuring and make sure 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 we are. He said: ‘I will implement that every zone will be represented’. That is a town hall meeting.
“But Nigerians want you to start from this one. When you start from this one, we will know what you will do when you get there. Start from the party.
“Why are Nigerians so gullible that anything they hear they take? If you want to say I will implement this or do this, I will say okay this one you have now, start from here. If you cannot do this one, can you do the other one when you are there?
“Nobody should deceive us. There are many people who have left offices for years. You see those who are surrounding them, are broke. All they want to do is to have the opportunity to come back to power. Nigerians must open their eyes.
“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 and they are talking. Who is fooling who?
“All these past seven years, you couldn’t challenge Buhari for doing that and now election has come and you want to win our hearts. We know ourselves. Nobody can fool anybody.
“Some people say they would form a government of national unity. It is not talking, start now to implement it.”
On the call to expel him from the PDP, Wike said nobody could threaten him to forsake the truth.
He added that person behind the call were those who destroyed the PDP in 2015 and made it an opposition party.
The governor challenged his detractors to a debate with the G-5, insisting that the group would continue to demand justice, equity and fairness.
He said: “Some people say they should expel me. Nobody in this country can shut me down.
“I have the right to say what I want to say. What concerns me? Sack me now. Am I looking for work? It is only someone looking for work that will be afraid of a sack.
“People should not threaten me. Those threatening me are those that destroyed PDP and made us lose the election in 2015. I stood firm in this party when this party was to die.
“What we seek is equity, fairness and justice. It is not personal to us. There is nothing anybody can give me now. With what God has done for me, why should I be afraid to speak the truth? I will continue to speak the truth”.
Wike said nobody would win based on tribe.
Describing Obi as a humble man, the governor said the LP candidate was not in the league of dishonest politicians, who were fond of betraying agreements.
He said: “I must confess that you are a very humble person. But that doesn’t mean you are the one to save Nigeria. You are a straightforward person. You are a man of integrity.
“I stood firm for you and your boss to win the 2019 election and it was in my state that the ruling party never had 25 per cent in the Southsouth.
“You must not sell yourself because you belong to a major ethnic group. Every vote in this country will count. Time has passed when anybody thinks he can win an election because you are from a particular place. Nigeria has passed that stage.
“We want a Nigeria where I have hope I can become anything tomorrow not because I came from a small place”.
Wike said Obi was free to campaign in Rivers, but that LP would not win any office in the state. Continue reading
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