‘Atiku weapon fashioned against PDP’ – Olayinka on why Wike lost VP slot

The Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, Lere Olayinka, has said former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is the weapon formed against the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Olayinka made the remark while recounting how Wike was schemed out of becoming PDP’s presidential running mate in 2023.

He said some chieftains of the party claimed that Wike would be too strong as Vice President and can’t be control.

Posting on his X page on Wednesday, the Minister’s spokesman said some party chieftains had branded Wike as a disloyal PDP member.

He wrote: “They told us then that Wike will be too strong as Vice President, it will be difficult to control him, bla bla bla.

“Person wey never win election dey talk about who will be difficult to control as Vice President.

“Then too, they termed us as disloyal to the party.

“Since 2003, Atiku has remained the weapon formed against PDP.”

Olayinka’s comment comes on the heels of Atiku’s former running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa dumping the PDP for APC.

Okowa claimed that he defected to APC to connect Delta State to the Federal level.

The former governor also disclosed that Atiku informed him that he would soon defect from the PDP.

Meanwhile, there has been leadership crisis in the PDP which started during the build-up to the 2023 presidential election.

The party’s leadership had refused to honour its rotational convention with the then National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu and Atiku coming from the same geo-political zone.

Wike and his group had wanted PDP’s presidential candidate zoned to the South since the party’s National Chairman was from the North.

With Atiku’s emergence as PDP’s presidential candidate, Wike and five other then state governors formed the Integrity Group also known as the G-5.

While Wike, Ugwuanyi, Governor Seyi Makinde, Ikpeazu worked for President Bola Tinubu, former Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom backed ex-Labour Party, Peter Obi in the last election.