Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State, has rejected meeting with Atiku Abubakar, the PDP’s presidential nominee, to discuss the internal party conflict.
In response to Atiku’s claim in a recent interview that he had at least five meetings with Wike, Wike stated the former vice president’s statement was inaccurate.
He added that the only time he had ever seen Atiku was when he paid him a visit at home during the party’s presidential primary.
With all due respect, he added, “To claim someone is lying is akin to saying an elderly person is lying because of what they say.
“On Saturday following the primaries leading up to Sunday, Atiku visited my house in Abuja while I was traveling back to Abuja. This was the only time I saw him after the primaries.
“We entered the office in my Abuja home and asked to speak. I’m upset with you because we talked about it, I respect you, and you told me something, but I later found out you weren’t being serious.
The fact that you say it voluntarily makes it worse. He told us when we sat together that he believed Ayu needed to resign because it was uncommon for the chairman and a presidential contender to hail from the same zone. Atiku only visited me once after the primaries on Monday, so that was the only time.
He continued by saying that at other occasions, other people organize and invite them to meet.
The governor of Adamawa State informed us, my colleagues, that his boss, Atiku, wants to speak with us. We agreed, and we headed to his London hotel.
What is the problem? He told us in the meeting that yes, he confronted the national chairman, and the national chairman said he said so. I asked, “If you have held the meeting, what is the hold-up?” We responded, “No big deal. You have won. We are not talking about the presidential candidate anymore. Can we follow the tradition of our party and let the national chairman comply and fulfil the promise he made?”
“As far as Ayu is concerned, now it’s the modalities, we agreed in the meeting and we said let’s meet again.
“For the love of Christ, for the love of Christ, we are not houseboys, he asked us to give him one week and he would call us back, thinking that after one week he will call us back.
We waited that week, but he didn’t call. The next thing we learned was that he had declared that Ayu was unable to travel due to a constitutional challenge.
“What? This is a person who asked his governor, Umar Fintiri, a question, and they both agreed on it.
