Atiku, Wike in fence-mending meeting ahead of 2023 polls

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has held a closed-door meeting with Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, whom he beat to get the party’s ticket on Saturday.

Atiku scored 371 votes after Aminu Tambuwal, the governor of Sokoto, withdrew from the race and asked his supporters to support the former VP.

Details of the meeting in Abuja were not made available to the media but TheCable understands that it was essentially a fence-mending meeting.

“The meeting is at the instance of Atiku, who decided to reach out to Wike so that the party can be united ahead of the presidential election,” a source close to Atiku told TheCable.

At the meeting, which took place at Wike’s residence in Abuja, were Ayo Fayose, himself a contestant in the primary but believed to have asked his delegates to vote for Wike, Mohammed Bello Adoke, former attorney-general of the federation, Adamu Maina Waziri, former minister of internal affairs, and other PDP members.

TheCable learnt that the meeting went “very well”.

Wike was said to have complained about the role ethnic politics played in making Atiku candidate as northerners rallied behind the former VP.

His team was also said to have frowned upon the role of Iyorchia Ayu, the PDP national chairman, who was recorded on video thanking Tambuwal and calling him the “hero of the convention”.

“You expected the chairman to be neutral,” one of Wike’s associates reportedly told the meeting.

The meeting ended on a convivial note, the source said, as Atiku and Wike promised to work together to displace the All Progressives Congress (APC) from power in 2023.