2023: Northerners behind Atiku due to Wike’s insults – Reno Omokri

 

A former aide of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, has said the reason why northerners are behind the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, is a result of the provocations from Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.

 

Omokri, in a post on his social media handles, said the manner in which Atiku responded to Wike’s provocation has been the major thing that galvanised the North behind Atiku.

 

According to Omokri, Atiku has been able to hold his peace instead of replying Wike, no matter the insult he threw at him.

 

He explained that Wike’s attacks on Atiku has made the former Vice President more popular in the North, having been able to keep a cool head in spite of the barrage of insults from Gov Wike.

 

Recall that Wike has been leading a team of five aggrieved governors of the PDP, known as the G-5, against the presidential candidate of their party.

 

The crisis started immediately after Wike lost the PDP presidential primary election to Atiku.

 

The Rivers governor has since then requested the resignation of the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, for being a northerner like Atiku.

 

Wike and the other four aggrieved PDP governors said it would be unfair to the South that the presidential candidate of the party and its national chairman are both from the North.

 

Since then, efforts to placate the governors to support Atiku have been abortive, as they threatened to work for another presidential candidate from the South, starting from January 2023.

 

It is being rumoured that Wike and his team are yet to convince one another on who to support between Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

 

Recently, Wike shut down a campaign office of Atiku in Rivers, saying it was set up in violation of his executive order.

 

Speaking, Omokri said: “One other thing that galvanised the North behind Waziri Atiku Abubakar is the way he responded to Wike’s provocations. No matter the insult Wike threw at him, Atiku held his peace and never responded. If you know how popular it has made Waziri, you will thank Wike!

 

“In their view, a man who can command such a presence and cool head under such a continuous and one-sided barrage of insults is a man with capacity to lead under pressure.”