The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has alleged that his Labour Party rival, Peter Obi, abandoned the main opposition party due to frequent insults from Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
On Wednesday, Atiku addressed through his Special Assistant on Public Communications, Phrank Shaibu, in Abuja, and said it was unfortunate that Wike was successful in duping his G-5 colleagues into committing ‘political suicide’ by rejecting the PDP.
Wike, he claims, duped Governors Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, and Samuel Ortom of Benue into supporting his acts.
Shaibu’s statement was in response to a statement by the Rivers State Government where it advised Atiku to “caution his attack dogs”.
“As governor, he [Wike] constantly undermined his colleagues, particularly Governors Ben Ayade, Dave Umahi, and Godwin Obaseki,” Shaibu responded. Because of frustration, Ayade and Umahi eventually left.
“Even Peter Obi left because of the constant insults from Wike, who battled with him over the structure of the PDP in Anambra State.”
“In his most recent act of desperation, he deceived four of his colleague governors to reject the PDP, thereby pushing them into political suicide.”
“Governor Wike’s claim that he opposed Atiku for the sake of fairness is like a prostitute claiming to be in business in order to feed the poor,” he added.