Wike Criticises Atiku, Other PDP Leaders Over Protest at INEC Office
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike criticized former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for protesting the outcome of the February 25 presidential election at the national headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Speaking at the commissioning of Chokocho-Igbodo Road in the Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, Wike stated that he had warned the PDP leadership about their insistence on northerners holding onto the presidential ticket and national chairmanship seat of the party.
Wike commended the people for voting for a southern President in the just-concluded elections, citing Section 7(3)(c) of the PDP constitution, which recognises zoning and rotational presidency.
He noted that the leadership of the party contravened the provisions of the party’s regulations.
Wike, who was one of the five PDP governors known as the G5, demanded the resignation of Iyorchia Ayu, arguing that northerners should not be the PDP national chairman and presidential candidate.
However, both Atiku and Ayu refused to succumb to their demands in the just-concluded elections.
In the presidential election, Atiku lost in all the G5 states, while Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, won Enugu and Abia, and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) raked in Oyo, Benue, and Rivers.
INEC subsequently declared Tinubu as President-Elect after he came out tops in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states, and secured significant numbers in several other states to claim the highest number of votes—8,794,726, almost two million votes more than his closest rival—Atiku.
Atiku, who has now run for president six times, got 6,984,520 votes, while Obi finished the race with 6,101,533.
