Wike’s Visit To Tinubu Confirms THE WHISTLER Exclusive Story As Rivers Gov Activates ‘Plan B’
The reported trip of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, to France to meet with the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, may have confirmed THE WHISTLER’s exclusive report on the aftermath of Atiku Abubakar’s choice of a running mate.
Joe Igbokwe, a chieftain of the APC and Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor, claimed in a tweet on Thursday that Wike paid a visit to Tinubu in France.
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The Rivers State governor, who lost in the recent Peoples Democratic Party presidential primary, had set tongues wagging when he shared photos of himself ‘on vacation’ with his Abia State counterpart in Turkey on Tuesday.
Per Igbokwe’s tweet, Governor Wike must have flown to France from Turkey to meet with the APC presidential flagbearer.
“While they are on social media abusing everybody, Governor Wike goes to France to meet Asiwaju.
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“Abuse, calling names, hate, and bigotry are no strategy. They hated and abused PMB (President Muhammadu Buhari) since 2015 and now they have transferred the aggression to Asiwaju. We wait and see,” said Igbokwe.
THE WHISTLER had exclusively reported ahead of Atiku Abubakar’s announcement of Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as his running mate, that Governor Wike may not support Atiku if the PDP presidential candidate should not pick him as his running mate.
This website reported that Wike had summoned federal and state lawmakers and ward chairmen of the Rivers PDP to a meeting to brief them about steps he intends to take in the event that Atiku did not pick him as his running mate.
At the meeting which had in attendance Dum Dekor, the House of Representatives member representing Khana/Gokana Federal Constituency, Wike’s representative told the chieftains that the Rivers governor and his supporters will not support or campaign for Atiku if he (Wike) is not chosen as the PDP vice-presidential candidate.
– Rivers Governor Activates ‘Plan B’ –
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A source at the meeting told THE WHISTLER that Wike’s reported visit to Tinubu in France may be to activate his “Plan B” which is to support the APC flagbearer against Atiku in the 2023 presidential election.
The source added that it would be Wike’s turn to pay Tinubu back for the role he played in the 2019 Rivers governorship election when Wike faced stiff opposition to his re-election bid by Rivers APC chieftains despite the exclusion of the opposition party from the ballot.
A confirmation of this was the remark by former Ekiti State Governor and close associate of Wike, Ayodele Fayose, who told Premium Times in an interview that the Rivers Governor will not support Atiku to win the 2023 election.
“Wike cannot come out to say he is supporting Atiku. I dare him to say so; because he knows that whatever he says will haunt him forever. If Wike supports Atiku, we will abandon him,” Fayose told the medium on Thursday, noting that the Rivers Governor never showed interest in the VP slot but that “when Atiku visited him, he was the one who said, ‘I want you to be my VP’. He said that to Wike. If that then changes, is Wike not supposed to be told? Is he not supposed to know?”
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Fayose added, “PDP set up a committee to recommend a running mate for the candidate and the committee voted and picked Wike, but they (Atiku) didn’t comply with the recommendation of the committee.
“If the party is now a one-man show, we will show them that we can resist it. We are with Wike 100 percent.”
THE WHISTLER recalls that Wike had emerged second place behind Atiku at the keenly contest PDP presidential primary.
The Rivers governor had given Atiku a run for his money at the primary election until Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, who was one of the top three contenders, came to the former vice president’s rescue by stepping down and asking his supporters to vote for Atiku.
In the end, Atiku received 371 votes out of the 764 accredited ballots while Wike got 237 votes at the primary election.
