A former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido has disclosed that Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike made it clear that he was not interested in the vice presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2023 general election.
Wike lost the presidential ticket to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who was also the party’s candidate in 2019.
After his emergence, Atiku picked Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate.
Since the presidential primaries and Okowa’s nomination, PDP has been enmeshed in crisis, with party stakeholders like Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom and former Ekiti Governor, Ayo Fayose criticising Wike’s treatment.
In apparent reaction to the controversy generated, Lamido said that Wike made it abundantly clear that he was not vying for the party’s presidential ticket to negotiate for VP slot.
He explained that he was a member of the committee which recommended three persons to Atiku for running mate, noting that the presidential candidate was not bound to pick any of them.
“I was on the panel. Now, the criteria the members of that committee might have used might have been confined within the walls of the PDP, but they chose somebody for Nigeria not for the PDP.
“If the whole thing is going to be centered on the PDP, by the time we have an in-house thing, we may lose the election, no problem, but then, whatever we do, we are going to bring it outside and tell Nigerians that this is what we are giving them, that was what we did.
“Therefore, Atiku is not obliged to pick our own recommendation. We gave him three names to choose from. In any case, (for) those who are ranting, Wike said he didn’t have the aspiration to run for vice president, and that he was running not for any negotiating purposes. He said so.
“He made it very clear. He said whatever he did was purely for that purpose and will not use his aspiration to negotiate for anything,” Lamido said.
He explained that although Wike might not be pleased about how the matter played out, those around him were exacerbating the issue.
“No, he’s angry, he’s just like a boiling pot. When the pot boils over, it will spill over and what will happen? It (the spill) will mess up the body of the pot.
“Now, for those who love Wike, people like me, we should make sure we remove the log from under the pot which is the fire. When that is done, the temperature of the pot will come down first.
“For people who think that they love Wike more than we do, beyond these emotional things, what can they do? I’ve been saying, can any of them, Fayose and Ortom, take him around Nigeria and support him to win the election, can they?” Lamido said.