Wike charges PDP over Atiku’s north comment
Nyesome Wike, the governor of Rivers state, says the Peoples Democratic Party need to address an ethnicized comment made by its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.
Atiku had said at an event in Kaduna that the north needed a president of northern extraction.
He said, “I know the whole of this country. I have built bridges across this country.
“I think what an average northerner needs, is somebody who is from the north, who also understands the other parts of Nigeria, and who has been able to build bridges across the rest of the country. This is what the northerner needs.
“He (the northerner) doesn’t need a Yoruba or an Igbo candidate. This is what the northerner needs. I stand before you as a pan-Nigerian of northern origin.”
The comment, which critics say is contradictory to Atiku’s claim of being a unifier, instantly attracted opprobrium towards him.
Returning from Spain on Monday, Wike said the PDP should apologize to Nigerians over the divisive comment and not to be seen as being insensitive to justice.
