The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, on Wednesday, said the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and others who backed Wike for the Peoples Democratic Party vice-presidential ticket slot deserve a detailed explanation from the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar
Ortom, who said this during an interview on Arise TV on Wednesday morning, said it was surprising that Atiku could jettison the recommendation of 14 out of 17 members of the committee that recommended Wike as his running mate.
According to him, ” Wike deserves a detailed explanation from Atiku Abubakar because be jettisoned the recommendations of the committee which was set up by the Party to look into the issue of choosing his running mate”
Premium Politics had earlier reported that Atiku had after announcing Okowa as his running mate clarified that he picked the Delta governor because he had the qualities to be a President, adding that he “is a President-in-waiting.”
Ortom further said though Okowa was not a bad choice, he however believed Wike was the right man for the job owing to his character, capacity and intellect
“Some of us believe that Wike has the capacity but Nigerians or let me say 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 and some of us said that for the vice presidency of the party, we needed Wike to be the vice president so that he can bridge the gap.
“We (the committee) said it does not matter whether he supported the presidential candidate or not, all we are looking for is unity and how we can make things work. Unfortunately, it was said that it is Governor Ifeanyi Okowa who is also a PDP member. And that is the wisdom of the presidential candidate.
