Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed has rejected former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s recommendation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governor and the National Working Committee (NWC) to elect the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom. revealed. Wike is the running mate for vice president in the 2023 general election.
Mr. Bala Mohammed told Daily Trust that Mr. Wike, then Rivers State governor, felt hurt and humiliated by the resignation of other candidates for Mr. Atiku during the PDP presidential primaries.
Governor Bauchi said he would not have contested the primary if Wike had informed him of his ambitions early on, and refused to resign when asked by former PDP national chairperson Iyoruchia Ayu to resign. He added that he did.
According to him, he asked Atiku to withdraw from the race and offered, “Leave it to me, your brother. I will do it for you.”
He said: “Initially, I felt sorry for Mr. Wike because he was hurt by Mr. Atiku’s candidacy. Remember during the primaries? Wike has supported others before. If he had said he would run, I would not have run. He had contributed a lot to the development of PDP, so I trusted him as a friend. I changed. Seeing how hurt he was, I felt sorry for him. Some governors would have retreated to open the way to Atiku, but I didn’t. I didn’t want it to become a northern issue.”
The governor said he rejected Mr. Wike’s resignation during the PDP primaries because he represents the entire country, not just the North or South.
“I was approached by (former PDP Chairman Dr. Iyorukia) Mr. Ayu to step down for Mr. Atiku but I declined. Why should I back out after going this far? If I step aside Even if there was, it wasn’t for Atiku. I even told him, “Leave it to me, my brother, and I will do it for you.”
“We worked closely (with Wike). Remember, he hosted me in Port Harcourt and I also hosted him (in Bauchi). We worked closely in the primaries. Since we both lost, I encouraged Wike to work with us. He agreed and Mr. Atiku even set up a committee to select the vice presidential candidate. All of them recommended Wike, but Atiku refused. It hurt us deeply,” Muhammad said.
The governor said Mr. Atiku Abubakar gave no reason for rejecting Mr. Wike’s nomination as his running mate.
“There was no reason. It was just an insult. That is why I felt sorry for Wike. He was humiliated in the primaries and then something like this happened. “We were hoping to do something like that, but that didn’t happen and that led to the formation of the G5. There are a lot of undercurrents within that group,” he said.
He admitted that the former vice president handled the situation wrongly, adding that he initially sympathized with Mr Wike.
Bala Mohammed said: “So, I initially felt sorry for Wike, but I think his brother Atiku handled the situation wrongly. But to his credit, Atiku is a politician. He stayed true to himself, kept quiet, and didn’t push himself. That’s why I respect him. I believe Wike should respect himself too – he’s a capable politician. Politics is about living and keeping alive. This is an opportunity for everyone, and we should give others space to rise up.”
