Benue State governor, Sam Ortom has revealed that the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are still in contact with Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike over his defection from PDP.
Ortom said Wike is not happy over the choice of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as Atiku Abubakar’s running mate in the next year’s presidential election saying 14 out of the 17 members of the committee had recommended Wike for the position but things suddenly change overnight.
Speaking on a popular TV political programme, Ortom revealed that: “My friend Governor Wike deserves a vacation after the trauma that he went through. Some of us believe that he has the capacity and the charisma to lead this country from bottom to top compared to what has been happening.
“We have been taken in 2014 when this present administration came in, we have been taken from top to bottom. So, we thought that he has the capacity and the charisma. Unfortunately, Nigerians or the PDP people did not give him the opportunity.
“Some of us rooted for him, I was amongst the 17-member committee that was set up by the candidate himself and the party of the PDP. And some of us said that, for the vice presidency, for those of us in PDP, we needed Wike to be the vice president so that he can bridge the gap.
“When we said it in our meeting, we said that, look, it doesn’t matter whether he supported the presidential candidate or not, but all that we’re looking for is unity, and how we can make this work.
“Unfortunately, it was said that it is Governor Okowa, who is also a PDP member today. That is the wisdom of the presidential candidate.
“Some of us, I want to tell you that I have resorted back to prayers because I’m really confused because I felt that Wike would have been the vice president after losing the presidency. He was the second person to Atiku. Wike has charisma. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. All of us, have our weaknesses, but we can be something. But when it comes to mobilization and impact, value addition, reaching out, or making sure that a party works, Wike is an instrument. Wike is somebody who stood for the party, making sure that things work.
“So, for some of us, we believed in that, unfortunately, it was somebody else. It doesn’t matter. The party is supreme,” he said.