Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has taken a swipe at the former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, saying the latter has lost relevance politically.
Lamido, while speaking on Channel Television’s ‘Politics Today’ on Tuesday night, said there was no need for any reconciliation between Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, saying nobody wronged the Rivers governor.
But Wike, in a statement through his media aide, Kelvin Ebiri, on Wednesday, described the comments credited to Lamido as disgusting and disdainful, The Punch reported. The statement reads: “We have observed with disgust the disdainful remarks made by the former governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, about Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, during his recent interview on Channels television.
“While we cannot deny that Alhaji Lamido has an inalienable right to his personal opinion, we wish to declare that he, however, lacks the right to malign Governor Wike, whose immense contributions to the sustenance of the Peoples Democratic Party are not in dispute.
“It is rather appalling that at a time when concerted efforts are being made by lovers of true democracy and the unity of the party, to resolve some inherent contradictions plaguing the PDP, Alhaji Lamido and his cohorts, who have since lost their relevance in the polity, are busy creating friction and schism.”
He said Wike has never claimed to be the custodian of the over three million votes in Rivers State.
“But as the leader of the PDP and good people of Rivers State, anyone who underrates the governor’s political pedigree or dares to ignore his influence in the state and beyond will be doing so at his peril.
“We wish to remind Alhaji Lamido that Governor Wike has never left anyone in doubt about his capacity to sway the voters in Rivers state in a direction that benefits the people and the state, overall.
“When he speaks, Rivers people will listen, no doubt. Perhaps Alhaji Lamido thinks Nigerians are suffering from selective amnesia, having forgotten in a hurry the ignoble role he and his cohorts played between 2014 and 2015, which culminated in the defeat of the PDP in the 2015 general election.
“We hope that he is not up to such a scheme again to cause a repeat of that history. Otherwise, if Alhaji Lamido has any modicum of conscience, he won’t be making disparaging remarks about Governor Wike, whom many have described as the pillar of the PDP since 2015,” he added.
Continuing, he said, “We wish to state without equivocation that no well-meaning member of the PDP will describe Governor Wike as ‘insignificant’ in the affairs of the PDP. With all modesty, only persons plagued by schizophrenia psychosis will ascribe any form of relevance to Alhaji Lamido, under whose leadership the PDP has woefully lost two governorship elections in Jigawa State in quick succession.
“Under Lamido’s watch, as a governor of Jigawa State in 2015, the APC governorship candidate, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, scored a total 648,045 votes to defeat his PDP opponent, Malam Aminu Ringim, who scored a total of 479,447 votes. Worse still, in 2019, Governor Abubakar polled 810,933, while the PDP candidate scored 288,356.
“Such records depict that Alhaji Lamido cannot and does not have such a political following that will benefit the PDP. Those seeking electoral victory for the PDP are not dampening the morale required for a political offensive against the APC. Still, Alhaji Lamido is cracking the wall of unity badly.
“Let it be told that in 2015, Governor Wike, as an opposition candidate in Rivers State, polled 1,029,102 votes to defeat the then-ruling APC governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside, who managed to garner a paltry 124,896 votes.
“And in 2019, the governor also won by a landslide. These are marks of political sagacity and determination to keep PDP at the leading pedestal.
“So, as the 2023 general elections beckon, we wish to advise Alhaji Lamido to redeem his battered political image by delivering Jigawa State to the PDP, if he can,” the statement read.
