Why Wike Work Against Atiku In 2023 Presidential Election – Ex-PDP Legal Adviser

Former National Legal Adviser of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mark Jacob has finally opened up on why the immediate past Governor of Rivers State and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike supported President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 general election.

It would be recalled that in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election Wike and the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar we’re at loggerheads for not picking the latter as his Vice Presidential candidate, thereby bringing an unresolved crisis to the camp of the party.

This crisis also led to the emergence of the G-5 governors from the PDP which was led by Wike, however, following the unresolved crisis the then-governor of Rivers was accused of working for Tinubu as the APC won the presidential election in his state.

Wike supported Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate who eventually won in the exercise.

Apart from Wike, other aggrieved Governors with Atiku include then-Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu State) Samuel Ortom (Benue), and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia State), and Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State.

The group came about after the PDP presidential primary, where Nigeria’s former vice president, Atiku, defeated Wike and others to become the party’s presidential candidate.

The group had demanded the resignation of the then PDP National Chairperson, Iyorchia Ayu, to pave the way for a southerner to lead the party to achieve a “regional balance”.

The then governors’ argument was that both Mr Ayu and Atiku hail from northern Nigeria.

Tinubu was declared winner of the 2023 presidential election while Atiku came second.

After his inauguration on 29 May 2023, Tinubu appointed Wike as the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, apparently as a reward for his support to the president during the election.

Speaking on the development when he appeared as a guest on Arise TV’s The Morning Show, Jacob said Wike, and other individuals he did not name, “deliberately worked against the party (PDP)” in the election for his “selfish interests.”

“My position has been that you can never succeed when you are fighting your own family,” he said, adding that Wike’s rebellion against the PDP was responsible for the party’s failure in the exercise.

The former legal adviser said Wike’s campaign that power should shift to southern Nigeria was because he wanted to be president.

“Everybody now knows that the campaign for power shift by Wike and his group was largely for themselves. It was not for everybody in the south otherwise people like Peter Obi should have been given the (presidential) slot in the PDP,” Jacob stated.

Asked if Wike and others who allegedly worked against the PDP in the election should be expelled, he said, “Personally, I recommend that, as gentlemen, they should resign from the party.

“If they fail to resign, they should be sanctioned.”