Nyesom Wike on Saturday hit back at former vice president Atiku Abubakar, labelling the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential flagbearer in the 2023 election as a serial loser.
Atiku had taken a swipe at Wike – the Minister of the FCT and a former governor of Rivers State – over the local government elections in the state.
The Action Peoples Party (APP) won 22 out of the 23 local government chairmanship posts in the exercise in the PDP-led Rivers, a move Atiku said is a reflection of Wike’s rejection by the people. But weeks after, the minister said having contested the presidential election in 2019 and 2023 as the PDP candidate and lost, Atiku has been rejected by Nigerians.
“We never contested local government elections. Did we contest [Rivers LG election]? Did we pick form? I hear Atiku Abubakar say, ‘Oh they have rejected me in Rivers State. Okay, assuming though not conceding, he had lost so many times, Nigerians have also rejected him,” Wike said in Port Harcourt at a luncheon he organised in honour of members of the Rivers State Assembly loyal to him.
“If you say for an election we did not contest; never participated that shows Nigerians have rejected us, it is okay. You that contested and failed woefully, Nigerians have rejected you, therefore pack and go home.”
Wike, a chieftain of the PDP serving as a minister under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), fell out with Atiku in the lead-up to the 2023 election.
