Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike said during a live interview on Friday, that Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, can only win the 2023 election after sweeping the votes from Rivers, Lagos and Kano States.

Naija News reports that Wike said this after declaring during his interactive session with Channels TV today that he is not withdrawing from  PDP as rumoured in some quarters.

The party chieftain reassured that he would support Atiku in the presidential election despite being at loggerheads.

However, Wike at the live media chat with journalists on Friday at the Government House In Port Harcourt, said it was impossible for Atiku to clinch the nation’s number one political position without winning massively in Lagos, Kano and Rivers.

He said: “In 2015, Buhari won Lagos and Kano states. Also, in 2019, Buhari won Lagos and Kano states, and PDP won Rivers State.

“Presently, Atiku does not have Lagos and Kano states, and now he said he doesn’t need Rivers State. How can he win?”

Main Cause Of PDP Crisis 

According to the Rivers State Governor, the lingering crisis rocking the opposition camp was because it failed to zone the party’s presidential ticket to the South.

Wike told journalists in Port Harcourt that PDP leadership caused the internal wrangling by leaving the ticket open for all to contest and ignorantly planted a seed of discord among party members.

He said: “Those who thought they are too powerful, highly connected, and that they own the party said there should be no zoning of the presidential ticket – ‘leave it open and let the best candidate emerge’ – because they think they have the numbers.

“We jettisoned our constitution not knowing that we are laying the foundation, the seed of discord in the future.”

Speaking further, Wike insisted that the embattled PDP National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, must resign for the sake of equity since a northern presidential candidate has emerged.