The governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, took aim at former vice president Atiku Abubakar on Monday after he led PDP officials in a protest at the national offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the results of the presidential election on February 25.
At a speech during the opening of the Chokocho-Igbodo Road in Rivers State’s Etche Local Government Area, Wike admonished the party’s leadership against insisting that northerners continue to hang onto the presidential ticket and the party’s national chairmanship position.
“While others are performing demonstrations, I am awarding projects. My goal is to commission projects and satisfy my people; I have not traveled to make a statement, Wike stated.
The governor of Rivers also praised the electorate for choosing a president from the South in the recently held elections.
He said that even while the PDP constitution’s Section 7(3)(c) recognized zoning and a rotating presidency, the party’s leadership was still in violation of the rules set forth by the organization.
“I owe nobody any kind of apology. I am one of the apostles who steadfastly believed that the center of power must shift to the south. This is in the interests of justice, fairness, and equity.
“I have no issue with you, whether you voted for Labour or not. I don’t mind if you chose to support the APC. We have maintained that the north has controlled it for eight years. The south must stay there for eight years as a result, he said.
In the months leading up to the elections, Wike and the other four PDP governors collectively known as the G5 called for Iyorchia Ayu’s resignation, arguing that northerners shouldn’t be the party’s national chairman and presidential candidate.
In the just completed elections, Atiku and Ayu both called the governors’ bluff and refused to give in to their demands.
Atiku did not fare well in any of the G5 states, whereas Peter Obi of the Labour Party won Enugu and Abia, and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) fared well in Oyo, Benue, and Rivers.
Following his victories in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states and considerable support in a number of other states, Tinubu was subsequently declared the winner by INEC. He received 8,794,726, about two million more votes than Atiku, his closest competitor.
Atiku, 76, who has now campaigned for president six times, received 6,984,520 votes, while Obi, who finished the race with 6,101,533, garnered youthful voters in a way that some have called unprecedented in less than a year.
The election, according to both Obi Atiku, was invalid and will be contested in court. They accused INEC of violating Section 60 of the Electoral Act 2022 by failing to electronically transmit election results from polling places to the commission’s Results Viewing Portal (IReV).
“The election over the weekend was neither free nor fair. Early analyses show that it is the worst conducted elections since the return to democratic rule. The former vice president claimed on Thursday that the election’s manipulation and fraud were unprecedented in our country’s history.
He pledged to challenge the outcome of the election and believes the judiciary would do justice to the subject.
