RIVERS State governor Nyesom Wike has described a message credited to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar congratulating his running mate Ifeanyi Okowa as “unfortunate”.
Speaking in a media chat with journalists in Port Harcourt on Friday, Wike said the message aggravated the crisis rocking the party that was caused by the choice of Okowa as the party’s vice presidential candidate.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday conferred the award of the Commander of the Order of Niger (CON) on Okowa at the 2022 National Honours Awards Investiture ceremony in Abuja.
Abubakar in a congratulatory on his social media handles said the conferment of the award was a proof that he made the right decision by choosing Okowa as his running mate.
“Today’s conferment of the National Honour on Governor Ifeanyi A. Okowa by President Muhammadu Buhari is a testimony that I made the right decision in tapping an achiever as my Vice Presidential candidate for the 2023 election”, he stated.
Reacting to the development, Wike said: “The tweet was very bad. It doesn’t show a man who want peace. What is the comparison for?”.
Wike also claimed that when Atiku was confronted with the message, he blamed his media team for putting out the message without his approval.
Sinafi Omanga is a journalist with The ICIR. His Twitter handle is @OmangaSinafi and Email: somanga@icirnigeria.org
