Reno Omokri, a former adviser to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, has stated that the northerners’ support for the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, Atiku Abubakar, is due to the provocations of Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike.
Omokri stated on his social media accounts that the manner in which Atiku replied to Wike’s provocation was the key factor that rallied the North behind Atiku.
According to Omokri, Atiku has been able to keep his cool instead of responding to Wike’s insults.
He explained that Wike’s attacks on Atiku has made the former Vice President more popular in the North, having been able to keep a cool head in spite of the barrage of insults from Gov Wike.
PulseNets recalls that Wike has been leading a team of five aggrieved governors of the PDP, known as the G-5, against the presidential candidate of their party.
The crisis started immediately after Wike lost the PDP presidential primary election to Atiku.
The Rivers governor has since then requested the resignation of the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, for being a northerner like Atiku.
Wike and the other four disgruntled PDP governors claimed it would be unfair to the South if the party’s presidential candidate and national chairman were both from the North.
Efforts to persuade the governors to endorse Atiku have failed, as they have promised to work for another presidential candidate from the South beginning in January 2023.
According to reports, Wike and his staff are still debating who to endorse between Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Wike recently shut down Atiku’s Rivers campaign headquarters, claiming it was established up in breach of his executive order.
Speaking, Omokri said: “One other thing that galvanised the North behind Waziri Atiku Abubakar is the way he responded to Wike’s provocations. No matter the insult Wike threw at him, Atiku held his peace and never responded. If you know how popular it has made Waziri, you will thank Wike!
“In their view, a man who can command such a presence and cool head under such a continuous and one-sided barrage of insults is a man with capacity to lead under pressure.”
