Politics

Atiku/Wike peace talks run into fresh hitch

Published

4 years ago

August 14, 2022

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar

Adamawa gov: We’re making progress
Rivers gov’s camp: Nothing concrete yet

The latest emissary of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, on moves to resolve their differences may have departed Port Harcourt empty handed, The Nation can now reveal.

Mr.Ahmadu Fintiri, governor of Atiku’s home state of Adamawa, arrived at the Rivers State capital on Thursday at the behest of the former vice president to pacify Wike.

Fintiri left Port Harcourt on Friday morning and told reporters in Yola,the Adamawa State capital yesterday that progress was being made in the reconciliation process.

“I’ve just returned from Rivers State where I met with my brother Governor Wike and I can assure you that we’ve started talking and very soon we’ll be crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s,” Fintiri said.

He added: “Politics is all about discussions, meetings, give and take; and I can assure you that the reconciliation process is going well and PDP will come out of it successfully.

“We are focused and the reconciliation is up and progressing. I am the chairman of the reconciliation committee between Atiku and Wike on Atiku’s side, and I can assure you that we will get over it very soon.”

He said he was in a good position to help resolve the disagreement between Atiku and Wike because “I am an embodiment of both men.”

He spoke of ‘encouraging signs’ from the Port Harcourt meeting but also conceded that the task was a difficult one.

Wike, according to him, has contributed enormously to the growth of the PDP and wondered whether the Rivers State governor would allow all his contribution to the party go down the drain if he failed to support Atiku for the 2023 polls or dump the PDP for APC .

“Who are his friends in the APC? Are you telling me those who are now romancing with Wike love him? “ he asked.

“I can assure you that with God, the party will put its house in order before the 2023 elections.

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“Even Wike knows he has been by far the biggest investor in the party. Can he now walk away from all of his investment?

“We recognise he loves his people and I can assure you that he will have a fair deal if it comes to that, just to put the crisis behind us.”

However, political sources told The Nation in Port Harcourt yesterday that Fintiri may have exaggerated the success of his mission to Rivers State.

One of the sources confirmed that Fintiri was indeed in Port Harcourt on Thursday and met behind closed doors with Wike.

The source said the meeting did not achieve much because while it was ongoing some anti-Wike forces in Atiku’s camp scripted a report that the governor had removed all PDP flags in the Government House.

Said the source:”Fintiri is Wike’s friend. Atiku sent him on Thursday to talk to the governor. They met behind closed doors. But you know that day something happened:the same anti-Wike forces in Atiku’s camp sponsored a post on social media that the governor ordered his CSO to pull down all PDP flags in Government House.

“I don’t think the meeting achieved its desired results and that was why the governor spoke out on Friday. Fintiri left the state on Friday morning. So, everyday people behind Atiku are widening the crack and these people are very close to Atiku.”

The source said it was the same complaint the governor made to Atiku when both of them met recently in the Abuja home of a former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana.

“But I believe that soon they will find common ground to resolve their differences. Atiku should do more in calling his attack dogs to order,”` he said.

Another source said: “The crisis is not unusual in any party. But I have the confidence that it would be resolved and the party members will move on in peace. It is not a matter of Atiku paying a visit to Wike.

“This is a matter of the ability of the elders of the party and leaders of the party to do the right thing. If the party could survive the Sheriff’s era, it can resolve any issue that comes.

“I believe that the governor and the other leaders of the party especially the presidential candidate will be able to find a common ground and many party members believe that too. Both aggrieved parties have good intentions for the survival of the PDP.”

Yet another source drew attention to the statement made by Wike about Atiku on Friday during the inauguration of the Rivers State House of Assembly Quarters.

According to the source, the tone of the governor on that day did not suggest in any way that both camps had made up.

Among other things, Wike said: “I have kept quiet and busy delivering dividends of democracy for my party to win election; people are busy plotting how they will win election, but others are busy trying to see how they will lose election.

“If they lose election nobody should call my name. I have told the candidate, you will lose this election and you will win this election because of people around you. Anybody who knows me knows that if I was going to court, I would have gone to court within two weeks after the primaries because it is a pre-election matter and after two weeks you can’t go to the court.

“The legal adviser of the party called me and I told him you know there is mischief going on; you know me very well if I am going to court it is not those kind of lawyers I would have used and I don’t even know the lawyers. I want to tell the candidate (Atiku) that it is his group that are doing all these things. Let the world hear.

“They are the ones plotting all these things thinking that they would spoil my name. You cannot. The other day they said I removed all PDP flags in Government House. We are supposed to be talking about how you will win election, not about these people. They are not doing him any favour, rather they are trying to make him not to win election.But if that is what they want, I wish them good luck.

“But after my commissioning of projects nobody should say Wike has started. When I start, I have been on my own, they are looking for my trouble. Allow peace to reign. If you say your mother will not sleep, you too you will not sleep at the appropriate time.

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“I told Atiku the other day, all these governors you think are good with you what happened in 2019? Nobody wants to say the truth. Today instead of plotting how to win an election, they are talking about Wike. Wike is not important, why are you worried? Allow Wike to rest.”

Asked last month in a television interview to confirm claims by Atiku that he had reached out to him, Wike said: “When people tell lies, it is most unfortunate. Some senators called me and said Atiku Abubakar said he sent Saraki to me. That is unfair. It is not correct.

“I was in Spain, Bukola came to me and said ‘my brother how do we settle this problem?’. I asked, ‘were you sent by Atiku Abubakar’?, he said no. I said okay, ‘what do you want me to do? Look at the issues’. He said he didn’t know this and that. He said the matter was serious”.

He recalled that prior to the primaries, Atiku visited him in Port Harcourt to solicit his support, and wondered whether Atiku no longer knew the road to his house after winning the ticket.

Wike said: “Abubakar has never reached out to me.Forget about sending scavengers.Some of them will call my friends and say tell your guy to support us. It has reduced to that level. Some of them, I don’t know, would call me and be begging me not to leave the party. Who is talking about leaving the party?

“Atiku Abubakar came to my house and asked me to support him. So he doesn’t know my house again? Now, people I don’t even know are calling me to support him. They are trivialising issues. No way. I will not accept that. Atiku Abubakar cannot say he has sent somebody to me. Let one person say he was sent to me by Atiku Abubakar.

“Every day I read on newspaper you sent a committee to come and see me. I love this party and I have remained committed and I have been able to build this party. I am not one of those who are running around the presidential candidate. They are all scavengers looking for how they will survive.”

Atiku and Wike’s disagreement stemmed from the former vice president’s choice of Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate in preference to the Rivers State governor.

The Nation

Related Topics:Atiku Featured hitch Peace talks Wike

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Probe Me Over $16bn Power Spending If You Have Evidence – Atiku Dares FG

Published

3 hours ago

August 26, 2026

Trends Admin

Probe Me Over $16bn Power Spending If You Have Evidence – Atiku Dares FG

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has thrown down the gauntlet to President Bola Tinubu’s administration, demanding that it substantiate allegations linking him to alleged wrongdoing in the controversial $16 billion power sector expenditure or cease what he describes as a campaign of political distraction. In a statement released on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku insisted that he should be investigated and prosecuted if the government possesses credible evidence against him, stressing that political accusations cannot replace proof. The former Vice President accused the Tinubu administration and its supporters of reviving decades-old allegations to divert public attention from pressing questions surrounding the management of government revenues following the removal of petrol subsidy.

Atiku noted that the National Assembly had previously investigated the power projects, but he was never invited to respond to any allegations of misconduct. “The National Assembly investigated the power projects. I was never invited to answer any allegation of wrongdoing,” he stated. He acknowledged that he chaired the National Council on Privatisation while serving as Vice President but clarified that he did not oversee the implementation of the power project. “Yes, I chaired the National Council on Privatisation as Vice President. But on the power project, I disagreed with its concept and did not preside over its implementation. The responsible minister did. The same applies to the Aluminium Smelter matter,” Atiku explained.

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The African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate for the 2027 election declared that he had repeatedly made himself available for investigation since leaving office in 2007. “I have repeatedly asked to be investigated. I left office in 2007 and have spent much of the period since then opposing governments in power. If there is evidence that I stole public money, why has no government produced it before a court?” he queried. Atiku challenged the authorities to reopen the matter if they believed there was a genuine case against him. “It is still not too late. Investigate me. Invite me. Produce the evidence. Prosecute me if you have a case. But propaganda cannot substitute for evidence,” he said.

The former Vice President linked the renewed allegations to his persistent criticism of the Federal Government’s handling of the economic consequences of petrol subsidy removal. He argued that Nigerians had been promised that eliminating the subsidy would free funds for development, but citizens had instead faced higher costs of transportation, food, and other essentials. “Today, petrol is more expensive, transportation is more expensive, food is more expensive and the purchasing power of the Nigerian worker has been devastated,” he said. Atiku further questioned how additional government revenues were being deployed, alleging that tax incentives, waivers, credits, and concessions continued to benefit powerful economic interests. “So our question remains brutally simple: where is the people’s money?” he asked. He accused the government of hypocrisy for withdrawing economic relief from ordinary Nigerians while maintaining interventions that benefited major corporate interests. “You cannot take relief away from the poor, celebrate the resulting revenue and then tell the same impoverished citizens that government intervention on their behalf is economically irresponsible while interventions benefiting powerful interests are called incentives. That hypocrisy is precisely what we are challenging,” Atiku stated.

Atiku dismissed what he described as sponsored social media attacks, insisting they would not prevent him from demanding transparency over public finances. “The people who removed subsidy from the poor cannot frighten us into silence by resurrecting allegations that governments with all the investigative machinery of the Nigerian state have had nearly two decades to establish,” he declared. He challenged the government to either substantiate the allegations or address questions over the use of funds generated after subsidy removal. “If you have evidence against Atiku, bring it. If you have a case, prosecute it. But if you have neither, stop manufacturing distractions and answer Nigerians: You removed the subsidy. You collected the savings. Where is the money?” he demanded.

Probe Me Over $16bn Power Spending If You Have Evidence – Atiku Dares FG

Politics

Ogun 2027: Radio Interview that Triggered APC Move for Hunye’s Arrest, Prosecution

Published

7 hours ago

August 26, 2026

Trends Admin

Ogun 2027: Radio Interview that Triggered APC Move for Hunye’s Arrest, Prosecution

What Happened in Osun Will Be a Child’s Play in Ogun — Hunye

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State has distanced itself from Abayomi Hunye and called for his arrest and prosecution for allegedly impersonating a governorship candidate of the party, following comments he made during a radio interview in which he vowed to challenge the emergence of Senator Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, as the party’s 2027 governorship candidate.

Hunye, who described himself as an APC governorship aspirant, made the comments on Tuesday during an interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State.

During the programme, Hunye warned that the political crisis surrounding the APC’s 2027 governorship ticket could become far more intense than the recent political upheaval witnessed in Osun State.

“They saw what happened in Osun. What happened in Osun is going to be a child’s play to what is going to happen in Ogun State in 2027,” he said.

The comments appeared to have heightened the controversy surrounding the APC governorship ticket and prompted the party to disown Hunye, insisting that he had no authority to present himself as its governorship candidate.

The party maintains that Adeola is its duly nominated candidate for the 2027 Ogun governorship election.

Hunye, however, said he remained committed to his legal challenge against the outcome of the party’s governorship primary, arguing that the dispute was fundamentally about the integrity of the process and the right of party members to participate in a free and fair contest.

According to him, political grievances cannot simply be suppressed by imposing a preferred candidate on party members.

“What happened in Osun was the same thing. You cannot deprive people of their rights and want them to now keep quiet. They will not keep quiet,” he said.

Hunye also accused Governor Dapo Abiodun and the APC leadership of imposing Adeola on other aspirants, challenging the party to subject the senator to a transparent primary if he was genuinely popular among party members.

“He imposed him on us. And you want to force us to obey it. If you agree that he is popular, let the primaries be free and fair. And if he wins the primary, everybody will agree,” Hunye said.

He maintained that his court action was not driven solely by personal ambition, but by what he described as the need to ensure that the APC’s candidate emerged through a credible and acceptable process.

Hunye further claimed that opposition to Adeola’s emergence extended beyond his camp, alleging that some members of Governor Abiodun’s cabinet were also unhappy with the development.

“Quite a number of people in Dapo Abiodun’s cabinet are with us. They are not happy. People are not happy,” he claimed.

The radio interview has since become central to the latest development in the dispute, with the APC using Hunye’s public statements and his self-description as an aspirant to reinforce its position that he has no mandate to speak or act as the party’s governorship candidate.

The controversy comes as political activities intensify ahead of the 2027 Ogun governorship election, with the APC leadership seeking to consolidate support around Adeola while the internal dispute over the primary process continues to generate tension.

Hunye’s warning that the situation in Ogun could surpass the political crisis witnessed in Osun has also added a new dimension to the dispute, raising concerns about the possibility of further confrontation within the ruling party if the grievances of aggrieved aspirants and their supporters remain unresolved.

Politics

APC Petitions Police, DSS Over Ogun 2027 Governorship Claim, Seeks Hunye’s Arrest

Published

14 hours ago

August 26, 2026

Trends Admin

APC Petitions Police, DSS Over Ogun 2027 Governorship Claim, Seeks Hunye’s Arrest

I’m ready to honour police invitation – Hunye

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, and the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), demanding the arrest, investigation and prosecution of Mr. Abayomi Hunye over his alleged impersonation as the party’s governorship candidate in Ogun State for the 2027 general elections.

The ruling party also urged the security agencies to stop Hunye from further parading himself as its candidate, warning that his continued claim could mislead the public, undermine electoral integrity and potentially threaten public peace in the state.

The development followed Hunye’s recent declaration at an event in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, where he reportedly presented himself as the APC governorship candidate for the 2027 election and unveiled Chief Abayomi Odunowo as his purported running mate.

The APC had on Monday publicly disowned Hunye, describing his claim as mischievous and insisting that he was not its governorship candidate.

In separate petitions dated August 24 and signed by the party’s Director of Administration, Ayoola Olajolo, the APC asked the police and DSS to urgently intervene in the matter.

In the petition to the Inspector-General of Police, the party described Hunye’s action as a “grave threat to public peace and electoral integrity,” alleging that he had been using both traditional and social media platforms to parade himself as the party’s candidate.

The APC stated: “The Subject has notoriously and unlawfully taken to the public domain, including print and social media, parading himself as the governorship candidate of our party for the forthcoming January 2027 election.

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“I wish to state unequivocally that this claim is false, fraudulent, and a deliberate act of impersonation designed to mislead the public and destabilise the peace of Ogun State.”

The party further alleged that Hunye had been suspended from the APC on April 7, 2026, following a petition from his Tube Ward in Ipokia Local Government Area.

According to the APC, the suspension was subsequently ratified by the Ogun State Working Committee and communicated to the party’s national headquarters.

The party also maintained that it had conducted its governorship primary election in the state and that Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola and Mrs Balogun Abiodun remained its recognised governorship candidate and running mate respectively.

Consequently, the APC asked the police to invite Hunye for questioning and investigate what it described as possible offences arising from his conduct.

The party specifically requested that the security agency investigate and prosecute him, where appropriate, for alleged impersonation, conduct likely to cause a breach of peace and alleged violation of the Electoral Act, 2026.

It also urged the police to restrain Hunye from further presenting himself as the APC candidate in order to prevent what it described as a possible breakdown of law and order in Ogun State.

The party pledged to cooperate fully with the investigation and provide additional statements or evidence that may be required.

Meanwhile, reports that Hunye had gone into hiding after security operatives allegedly visited his residence to deliver an invitation for questioning have been denied by the politician.

Hunye, while reacting to the development, dismissed the claim that he was on the run, insisting that he remained available and was prepared to honour invitations from the security agencies.

He questioned the basis for reports that he had evaded the operatives by jumping over his fence.

“Somebody was saying they came to my house and I jumped the fence. Why won’t I honour it? How can I be on the run?” Hunye asked.

He added that he would honour any invitation issued by the security agencies, noting that an invitation scheduled for September could not reasonably be interpreted as an indication that he was fleeing.

“If somebody invited me for September, I’ll be running now? The question is, have they visited my house?” he said.

Hunye further insisted, “I heard that they’re saying they came to my house and I jumped the fence. How can I be on the run? If I’m invited for September, I’ll definitely honour it.”

The dispute has added a fresh layer to the unfolding political contest ahead of the 2027 governorship election in Ogun State, with the APC now seeking the intervention of security agencies to settle what it considers a case of impersonation and potential threat to electoral order.