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The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has taken a swipe at the former governor of Jigawa State, Alh. Sule Lamido, saying the latter has lost relevance politically.
Recall that Lamido while speaking on Channel’s television ‘Politics Today’ on Tuesday night said there was no need for any reconciliation between Wike and the presidential candidate of the PDP, Alh Atiku Abubakar, saying nobody wronged Wike.
But Wike in a statement through his media aide, Kelvin Ebiri, described the comments credited to Lamido as disdainful and disgusting.
The statement” We have observed with disgust the disdainful remarks made by a 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 PDP 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 the governor had never claimed to be a 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 own 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, in the overall.
“When he speaks, Rivers people will listen, no doubt. Perhaps, Alhaji Lamido thinks Nigerians are suffering from selective amnesia to have forgotten in a hurry the ignoble role he and his cohorts played between 2014 and 2015, that culminated in the defeat of the PDP in the 2015 general elections.
“We hope that he is not involved in 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 comments about governor Wike, whom many have described as the pillar of the PDP since 2015,” he added.
In a related development, a socio-political group, the One Nigeria Movement, said that the display of arrogance by a former Jigawa governor and others around the PDP presidential candidate would cost him the 2023 election.
The group in a statement by its Convener General, Ahmed Sodiq-Mugoro and Secretary, Babatunde Aliyu, said ‘’The utterances of Lamido in recent times are not only inimical to the unity of Nigeria but a sign that the PDP presidential candidate was already being caged by a group who appeared to see others as nobody.”
