According to Reno Omokri, a former advisor to former President Goodluck Jonathan, northerners’ support for PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar is due to the provocations made by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
In a tweet on his social media accounts, Omokri said that the main factor that inspired the North to support Atiku was the way that Atiku replied to Wike’s provocations.
Despite the vitriol Wike hurled at him, Omokri claims that Atiku was able to refrain from responding.
He argued that because Atiku maintained his composure in the face of Gov. Wike’s criticisms, the former vice president had gained popularity in the North as a result of Wike’s attacks on him.
According to kuryaloaded, Wike has been spearheading a group of five PDP governors who are upset against their party’s presidential nominee known as the G-5.
The issue erupted just after Atiku defeated Wike in the PDP presidential primaries.
Since then, the Rivers governor has called for the party’s national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to step down because he is also a northerner like Atiku.
Wike and the other four irate PDP governors claimed that the fact that the party’s national chairman and presidential candidate are both from the North would be unfair to the South.
Since then, attempts to win over the governors to Atiku’s side have failed because they have promised to endorse a different presidential candidate from the South beginning in January 2023.
Rumor has it that Wike and his group are still debating who to support between Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP.
Atiku’s campaign office in Rivers was recently closed down by Wike, who claimed it had been established in defiance of his executive order.
Speaking, Omokri added: “Waziri Atiku Abubakar’s response to Wike’s provocations is another factor that inspired the North to rally behind him. No matter what slur Wike shouted at him, Atiku remained silent and didn’t answer. You will be grateful to Wike if you knew how well-liked Waziri has become as a result!
They believe that a man who can maintain composure amid such a relentless and unfair barrage of insults is capable of leading under pressure.