EXCLUSIVE: Atiku heads for London in last-ditch effort to woo Wike

Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has headed to the UK in an attempt to resolve his rift with Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, TheCable can report.

Sources close to the former vice-president said Abubakar is billed to meet with the Rivers governor on Thursday.

“The PDP presidential candidate headed for London today after arriving Paris yesterday. He is billed to meet with Wike tomorrow in an attempt to resolve the issues between them,” a source said.

Also, associates close to the PDP presidential candidate are not happy with the way in which Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa, and Babangida Aliyu, former governor of Niger, have criticised Wike and they want Abubakar to call them to order, another insider said.

In an interview with Channels Television on Tuesday, Lamido said: “We should forget about Wike.”

“Wike is an individual, I don’t think because he is a governor there he has control and monopoly over the peoples of Rivers,” the former Jigawa governor had said.

Abubakar’s desperate move to resolve the issues between him and Wike came a day after Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), met with the Rivers governor in Paris, France.

Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue; Seyi Makinde of Oyo, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, and other PDP stalwarts loyal to the Rivers governor also attended the meeting.

ABUBAKAR-WIKE RIFT

The PDP has been in turmoil since it held its presidential primary election in May.

Atiku clinched the party’s ticket after the dramatic withdrawal of Tambuwal from the race. Tambuwal had asked his supporters to support the former vice-president.

The crisis in the party escalated after Atiku chose Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Delta, as his running mate

Party stakeholders had expressed concerns that Atiku ignored Wike — who was said to have been preferred by a majority of the PDP’s national working committee (NWC) members as the candidate for the position.

Both men met weeks ago but they were not able to broker a truce.