Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike has filed a lawsuit against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential flagbearer Atiku Abubakar, over the outcome of the recently-held party primary election.
The lawsuit was filed by Wike alongside Michael Ekamon, a member of the PDP, at the Abuja Federal High Court. According to court filing, the PDP, Sokoto State governor Aminu Tambuwal and Nigeria’s electoral body INEC, are all joined in the suit. The parties were served on July 1.
The development has presented a fresh challenge to the main opposition party’s quest to win the 2023 presidential election.
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Wike was aggrieved by the outcome of the PDP’s primary election after Tambuwal stepped down from the race for Atiku. The governor said Tambuwal’s decision undermined his chance of winning, describing it as betrayal.
Attempts by the PDP’s National Working Committee (NWC) to resolve the matter have failed. Now the crisis has degenerated to a lawsuit that will likely mar the party’s chance to retake power from the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), who ascended to power in 2015.
Wike has accused the former vice president of telling lies against him and using his “attack dogs” to issue false statements, and has vowed to tell the whole truth about all that recently transpired in the PDP.
“When I chose to quietly mind my state they chose to constantly sow malicious lies & discord. For posterity sake I will reveal all that occurred and respond to every one of their lies. We cannot leave our history in the hands of liars,” Wike said last month.
After the PDP’s primary election, a committee set up by Atiku to choose a running mate for him, revealed that they chose Wike, but their decision was overridden by Atiku’s choice of Delta State governor Ifeanyi Okowa. The matter is believed to have added salt upon Wike’s injury, fanning embers of the PDP’s infighting.
Atiku’s attempts at reconciliation have failed. On Thursday, Adamawa State governor, Umaru Fintiri, paid emissary visit to Wike in Port Harcourt, in Atiku’s latest move to make peace. But Wike insisted that for peace to reign, the National Chairman of the PDP, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, must resign from office.
Per Vanguard, Wike told Fintiri that even without his insistence on Ayu’s resignation, honor, dignity and sincerity should make Ayu resign, based on his promise to do so once a northerner emerged as presidential candidate.
The lingering dispute is exacerbating the gap created by the sudden exit of Labour Party’s presidential candidate Peter Obi, whose myriads of supporters followed to his new party.