Rivers Gov. Nyesom Wike has berated the PDP’s presidential candidate – Atiku Abubakar – for criticising Buhari over lopsided appointments, saying he wondered why it took the former vice-president seven years to speak out on the matter.
Atiku cannot fool Nigerians, Wike added.
In a meeting Wednesday with members of the Nigerian Guild of Editors in Lagos, Atiku faulted what he described as uneven appointment of heads of security agencies by President Buhari, saying it only favoured people from the northern part of the country.
Atiku said he would ensure every geopolitical zone would be represented in the entire security structure should he emerge as Nigeria’s president in 2023, maintaining that PDP would form a government of national unity.
But Wike rubbished Atiku’s claim that he would form a government of national unity and end lopsided political appointments.
Wike asked persons making such remarks to first correct the lopsided leadership positions in the PDP before the people would take them serious.
The governor said: “When I hear people go to town hall meetings and they say all kinds of things they say. They say “I will implement restructuring, they will make sure every zone will have a member in the security council, that it is not good for one zone to produce all the security chiefs.
“But is it good for one zone to occupy all party positions? You see how we are. He said ‘I will implement that every zone will be represented. That is a town hall meeting. But Nigerians want you to start from this one. When you start from this one, we will know what you will do when you get there. Start from the party.
“Why are Nigerians so gullible that anything they hear they take? If you want to say I will implement this or do this, I will say okay this one you have now start from here. If you cannot do this one, can you do the other one when you are there?”
Wike noted that Atiku is surrounded by many people who left offices for years because they are currently broke.
He added: “All they want to do is to have the opportunity to come back to power. Nigerians must open their eyes. Some people now are criticising Buhari for appointing all the service chiefs from the North, why did they not challenge Buhari since? Election has come and they are talking. Who is fooling who?
“All these past seven years, you (Atiku) couldn’t challenge Buhari of doing that and now the election has come and you want to win our hearts. We know ourselves. Nobody can fool anybody. Some people say they would form a government of national unity. It is not talking, start now to implement it.”
