Wike: PDP should apologise to Nigerians over Atiku’s ‘north needs northerner’ remark

Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) needs to apologise to Nigerians over the recent comments of Atiku Abubakar, its presidential candidate. 

In a statement issued by Kelvin Ebiri, Wike’s spokesperson, the governor spoke on Monday at the Omagwa international airport in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, when he returned from Spain.

While speaking in an interactive session of the Arewa townhall policy dialogue in Kaduna over the weekend, the former vice-president said northerners need a president who hails from the north — and not someone from an Igbo or Yoruba extraction. 

Abubakar’s remarks have elicited backlash from Nigerians and political groups, with the All Progressives Congress (APC) saying he is desperate and not fit to be in charge of the country.

Wike, who said he found the statement hard to believe, said if true, the PDP needs to apologise to Nigerians.

“I don’t believe that my candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could make such a statement. But assuming he did make that statement, and this is one of the things we have been saying, this country needs to be united and part of the way you unite it is to include everybody,” Wike said.

“That has now confirmed to me one of the reasons why those of them in their camp do not want Ayu to resign because they do not want inclusivity.

“I don’t know how those who are packaging the presidential candidate will allow him to make such a statement. I was reading where somebody was saying that it was a direct response to a question he was asked.

“Be that as it may, I don’t think that it was necessary at this time. As people who are going in for election, as people who want Nigerians to trust them to have allowed such a statement to be made, if the (statement) was made, as they said, I think, as a party, we need to apologise to Nigerians — assuming the (statement) was made.

“People are denying that it was made but if you watch the video, it appears true. But people are saying with recent technology, anything can be done.

“This requires further explanation by our party, because Nigerians, as it is today, we can’t go this way if we want this country to remain as the way our founding fathers struggled, laboured, and toiled all the night to see that there is a country called Nigeria.”