Obasanjo’s endorsement not yardstick for being president, Atiku’s aide replies Wike

 

Phrank Shaibu, an aide to Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has tackled Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, for criticising his principal.

 

On Monday, while speaking in Rivers, Wike said there is “something fundamentally wrong” if Abubakar could not get the support of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

 

Obasanjo had in a letter to Nigerians on Sunday declared his support for Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), ahead of the presidential election.

 

In a statement on Tuesday, Shaibu, who is the special assistant on public communication to Abubakar, said Obasanjo’s endorsement does not translate to fitness for the office of the president.

 

He said Wike is “desperately trying to amuse Nigerians” on a daily basis “because he lost the primary and also failed to emerge as the vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party”.

 

Shaibu said Obasanjo’s endorsement of Obi does not mean that Abubakar is unfit to be president.

 

“Going by Wike’s flawed logic, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s refusal to support his Vice-President, William Ruto, meant that Ruto was unfit for office. The great people of Kenya, however, do not think in a flawed manner like Wike,” he said.

 “What Wike failed to acknowledge is that Atiku remains the only former Vice-President in the history of Nigeria ever to be publicly endorsed by his principal and this happened in 2019 when Obasanjo decided to support him.

 

“When has the lack of support of an ex-president ever translated to fitness of an office?