From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has said injustice was done to Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, in the selection of the vice presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general elections.
PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar had announced Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as his running mate against the recommendation of some members of the National Advisory Committee that endorsed Wike.
Ortom, during a monitored television interview, stated that Wike was not consulted before the selection process despite his monumental support for PDP when others chickened out.
He added that if Abubakar knew that he had Okowa in mind a panel should not have been set up in the first place.
For peace to reign and for PDP to make headway in next year’s elections, he advised the national leadership of the PDP to visit him and mend fences.
He said: “When people ran away from this party, Wike was on the ground. Wike was the one that made me return to PDP.
“Injustice was done to me in 2015, it was Wike that came here and convinced me to come to PDP.
“I came to PDP we were working and you do injustice to him and you think he would keep quiet. “This is not fair.
“I believe in justice, equity and fairness. It is not enough to say you will put a call to him. It is an insult to put a call to him. You go to him.
“The party leadership at the national level should go to Wike and appeal to him.
“Wike is a pillar of this party. Everybody knows. Wike was second to Atiku. Atiku should go to him. But it is unfair to say that you just put a call to Wike.
“I have no problem with Okowa. Okowa is my friend. But Wike should have been consulted and spoken to.
“Everybody must not be in position. But the truth is that Wike should have been consulted in the first place even before the announcement because, as I said, 14 people said Wike should be the vice.
“If that was not going to work, he should have been told. The people at the leadership are to be blamed.
“They would have allowed Wike to have first-hand information.
“Tell me one person in PDP today that has built this party to where it is today. Then you come and just dismiss him with a wave of the hand. It is not right.”