Atiku: How Wike rejected VP slot – Lamido

Sule Lamido, a former governor of Jigawa State, has revealed that Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State was never interested in becoming running mate to Atiku Abubakar.

According to him, Wike had made it clear from the onset that he was not ready to become a vice presidential candidate.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is currently immersed in a crisis following tje emergence of the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as the running mate to Atiku.

Some party leaders, including the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, and a former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, had openly faulted the process that produced Okowa as Atiku’s vice.

However, Lamido explained that Wike, who contested the presidential primary of the PDP, said he was not using the primary to negotiate for a VP slot.

Lamido told Saturday Punch, “I was on the panel. Now, the criteria the members of that committee might have used might have been confined within the walls of the PDP, but they chose somebody for Nigeria not for the PDP.

“If the whole thing is going to be centered on the PDP, by the time we have an in-house thing, we may lose the election, no problem, but then, whatever we do, we are going to bring it outside and tell Nigerians that this is what we are giving them, that was what we did.
“Therefore, Atiku is not obliged to pick our own recommendation. We gave him three names to choose from. In any case, (for) those who are ranting, Wike said he didn’t have the aspiration to run for vice president, and that he was running not for any negotiating purposes. He said so.

“He made it very clear. He said whatever he did was purely for that purpose and will not use his aspiration to negotiate for anything.”