NYESOM Wike has fired back at former vice president Atiku Abubakar, calling the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election a serial loser.
Atiku had criticized Wike – the Minister of the FCT and former governor of Rivers State – over the recent local government elections in the state.
In the elections, the Action Peoples Party (APP) won 22 out of the 23 local government chairmanship seats, which Atiku claimed was a sign that Wike had been rejected by the people.
In response weeks later, Wike pointed out that Atiku, having run for president in both the 2019 and 2023 elections as the PDP candidate and lost, had himself been rejected by Nigerians.
“We never participated in the local government elections. Did we run for the Rivers LG elections? Did we even pick forms? I hear Atiku Abubakar saying, ‘Oh, they’ve rejected me in Rivers State.’ But assuming, though not conceding, he has lost multiple times, Nigerians have also rejected him,” Wike said on Saturday during a luncheon in honor of the 10th Legislative Assembly of Rivers State.
“If you’re saying we’ve been rejected in an election we didn’t even contest, that’s fine. But you, who ran and failed miserably, have been rejected by Nigerians. So, it’s time to pack up and go home.”
