The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has sought the intervention of former President Goodluck Jonathan in what appears to be a fresh move aimed at resolving the rift with the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
Atiku had on Thursday night, paid a private visit to Jonathan at the ex-President’s Abuja residence in the company of his running mate, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa.
Although details of the meeting were not made available to the media, a reliable source in the Atiku/Okowa Campaign told our correspondent on Friday that it was not impossible that Atiku indeed went to seek Jonathan’s intervention.
The source, who wanted to remain anonymous, said Atiku and his team believed that Jonathan could prevail on Wike to soft-pedal.
The source affirmed the strong ties between the ex-President and the Rivers State Governor, stressing that the latter has great respect for the former and also holds strong allegiance to him.
He said: “In case you didn’t know, Wike parted ways with his friend and predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi because Amaechi decided to work against Jonathan in the run-up to the 2015 election.
“Even though it was Amaechi that nominated him for a ministerial position under Jonathan, Wike chose to stick with Jonathan, ditching Amaechi in the process.
“So, outside their disagreement over local politics in Rivers State at the time, Amaechi’s irreconcilable differences with Jonathan accounted for the sustained animosity between him and Wike till now.”
It was also gathered that Jonathan may not be well disposed to wading into the Atiku-Wike rift bearing in mind the role Atiku played in frustrating his re-election bid in 2015.
