*Says Wike’s Endorsement Of Sanwo-Olu Is Morally Wrong
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A former Minister of Aviation Osita Chidoka says Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won’t apologise over his Yoruba and Igbo president comment.
The former vice president had in a recent gathering advised northerners to vote for someone from the region in next year’s general election.
“What the average Northerner needs is somebody who’s from the North and also understands that part of the country and has been able to build bridges across the country,” the PDP presidential candidate said.
“This is what the Northerner needs. It doesn’t need a Yoruba or Igbo candidate. I stand before you as a pan-Nigerian of northern origin.”
The comment had generated heated debates and condemnations from several quarters but Chidoka maintained that Atiku does not need to apologize for the remark.
“I think we need to move beyond these political gimmicks and political gimmickry that goes on when people say one thing, we turn it the other way round and we use it for political ends. The point he is making is a very clear point – that we need a Nigerian president, somebody that would unify the country, will understand the issues, and be able to solve them,” Chidoka said while fielding questions on Channels Television’s Politics Today which aired on Tuesday.
“So, I don’t think that it is a statement that warrants any apologies or discussions. It is for Vice President Atiku to continue to explain himself to the public. We still have four months in the campaign so he needs to go out and explain his agenda that he is a Nigerian president that is desirous of making sure that all parts of Nigeria feel wanted in Nigeria, and feel united. He needs to unify the country to be able to propose the difficult solutions that must be applied to make this economy and the country work again.”
The PDP chieftain described the debates generated by Atiku’s comment as “unfortunate”.
Also, while featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Chidoka, a member of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), said that while Wike is free to associate with anyone, the moral burden lies with the Rivers leader. He said the party’s leadership will have to review the governor’s actions.
“Governor Wike has the liberty to do most of the things he’s doing because he has no skin in the game,” the former aviation minister said.
He, however, noted that “if he wants to support the presidential candidate of any party, he is free to do so but he has a moral responsibility not to be sitting on a PDP seat as a governor and be talking about another candidate.
“That moral burden is more on Wike than it’s on PDP to justify why he is taking that position for a party that has been good to him from local government chairman to being the governor of a state.”
Wike has been at loggerheads with the party after losing the PDP presidential primary to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in May. While the governor insists on the resignation of the party’s National Chairman Iyorchia Ayu, efforts to resolve the conflict have thus far failed.
And according to Chidoka, Wike’s stance portends a risk for the next chairman of the PDP.
“The discussion about whether the chairman of the party will leave has been a consistent conversation in PDP with Governor Wike,” he maintained.
“He wanted Makarfi to leave, he wanted Secondus to be chairman, Secondus became, he wanted him to leave at some point. He brought Sheriff as chairman of the PDP, he wanted him to leave and he went all the way to the Supreme Court.
“He brought Iyorchia Ayu as the chairman and now he wants him to leave. Even the next chairman is at risk if he continues to be the governor that at some point he may want the chairman to leave.”
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