Karma: Wike Reminds Atiku About 2014 Walkout On Jonathan 

By Adadainfo

Gov Nyesome Wike of Rivers State says he is not quitting the Peoples Democratic Party despite the refusal of the party’s national chairman, Iyorcha Ayu, to resign his position to balance north-south ratio of the PDP.

Atiku Abubakar, the party’s presidential candidate, and Ayu are from the North.

Wike’s camp pulled out of the party’s presidential campaign council following the reluctance of the party hierarchy to balance the alleged imbalance.

Wike said Thursday that he would remain in the party, and reminded Atiku how he pulled out of the PDP in 2014 in his pursuit of power shift to the North.

Ex-president Goodluck Jonathan lost the election to incumbent Muhammad Buhari following the division in the PDP. The likes of Atiku, former Senate president Bukola Saraki and Kogi ex-senator Dino Melaye all quit PDP and joined then surging APC of President Buhari.

Our correspondent reports that the trio and co returned to the PDP during Buhari’s second term bid in which Atiku of the PDP lost to Buhari. Atiku holds the record of contesting for presidency nine times.

Wike’s resolve never to quit the PDP was contained in a statement by Kelvin Ebiri, his spokesman.

It read in part, “One thing I have always told people is if anybody is thinking, doing anything to think that we will leave PDP, foul. We will do the fight in the party.

“We are not like them. When in 2014 they walked out from Eagle Square, they’ve forgotten. They walked out and joined APC. Is it not correct?

“Did they remain to fight inside the party? But we remained; they ran away. Now, there is a fight in the party. We will not run.

“We will fight it in this party. Those who run away from fights are weak people. We will not. So, everybody should know this is the state where we are, so that nobody tells you all kind of stories.

“You have taken presidential candidate; you have taken party chairman; you have also taken the director-general of the campaign.

“We are talking about party politics. Decisions are made by the presidential candidate, chairman of the party, and the DG of the campaign.

“They are telling you they told the chairman of the BoT to resign. So, you know there is a problem. You said he should go and resign. You can put pressure on him to resign when his tenure hasn’t come to an end, but you cannot put pressure on the chairman to resign.

“You think at our level you will deceive us; you’ll tell us stories.”