PDP Crisis: How Wike begged 19 times to become Atiku’s running mate - Dino Melaye spills

The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not ending soon with the recent revelation of former Kogi state senator, Dino Melaye about Governor Nyesom Wike's alleged lobby for the Vice President's position.

Dino Melaye, a former senator, says Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers, lobbied to become running mate to Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the February 25 election, The Cable report confirmed.

Speaking in an interview with Arise TV on Wednesday, April 12th, Melaye claimed Wike called him 19 times in two hours, lobbying to become Atiku’s running mate.

Melaye added that Wike’s opposition against him was because he refused to support his “myopic” presidential ambition.

Dino Melaye said the embattled Rivers governor was only fighting Atiku because the latter chose Gov Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate after allegedly lobbying for the same position to no avail, The Nigerian Tribune report added.

Melaye further revealed that Wike was his biggest sponsor when he vied for the same office in 2019.

“Wike was my biggest supporter; he was my biggest fan to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. He did not just support my primaries, he provided his private jet to drop me in Kogi on the day of the primary election and called me repeatedly thereafter.

“Wike has no iota of integrity. Wike was calling me when Atiku Abubakar was to announce his running mate. I have records and I’m going to print them out. I’m waiting for him,” he added.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25 presidential election, did not meet up with the constitutional requirements. The electoral umpire said this while urging the Presidential Election Petition Court to dismiss the petition filed by the PDP and Atiku.

According to INEC, Atiku did not score one-quarter of the votes in the 2-third of the 36 states of the federation and the federal capital territory and, therefore, cannot be declared the winner of the poll.

In another report, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State had commended his Kaduna counterpart, Nasir El-Rufai, for ensuring power returned to the south after President Muhammadu Buhari's reign.

The Rivers governor also extended his appreciation to the northern APC governors for respecting the southern people of Nigeria as well as the power rotation formula.

Wike, in his message, taunted the PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, for dismissing the southern bloc ahead of the poll.