• PDP Ticket Not for Betrayers, Wike’s Aide Warns Atiku
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has been told that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential ticket will no longer be available to candidates who have repeatedly betrayed the party, with the repercussions of past actions now evident.
This warning was delivered by Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media to Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike, on Thursday.
Olayinka asserted that Atiku should abandon any ambitions of running for president under the PDP in 2027, stating, “His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and those urging him on for their personal benefits should let the PDP breathe.”
This stance echoes Wike’s statement during a live media session in Abuja on Wednesday, where he made it clear that Atiku, the PDP’s 2023 presidential candidate, would not have an opportunity to secure the party’s ticket in the next election cycle.
Reacting to the comments through his media aide Phrank Shaibu, Atiku referenced his victories in the PDP primaries over both Wike in 2022 and former Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal in 2019.
However, in a counterstatement on Thursday, Olayinka dismissed Atiku’s victories as shallow, labeling them as “funny and childish” celebrations.
He remarked, “It is like Arsenal fans jumping to the rooftop to celebrate the club’s narrow defeat of the Super Falcons.”
Olayinka went on to criticize Atiku for continuing to seek the presidency despite his longstanding involvement in politics, dating back to the 1993 Social Democratic Party (SDP) primary in which he placed third.
“That Atiku is venerating himself for contesting the PDP ticket with Wike and Tambuwal, people who were just a little above 25 as of 1993, when he contested the SDP presidential primary, is the more reason he needs to go home and rest,” he stated.
Referring to Atiku as a leader not destined to assume the presidency, Olayinka commented, “It is obvious that he (Atiku) is paying the price of betraying the PDP in 2003, 2007, and 2014. If not, the same presidency he has contested twice and lost could have been his to just pick if he had avoided being inordinately ambitious while he was Vice President.”
Olayinka also criticized Atiku’s choice to run for president in 2007 under the Action Congress while still serving as Vice President on the PDP platform.
“A serving vice president joins others to form another party and contests as a candidate of the new party against his own party. That’s Alhaji Atiku Abubakar!” he exclaimed.
Olayinka argued that Atiku’s “conscience will continue to prick him on his roles in Lagos in 2023,” adding that “even his apology to PDP members in 2018 can never remove from his body that garment of betrayal.”
He concluded with a warning to Atiku and his supporters, insisting that the PDP’s ticket will not be available to him in 2027.
“It is again being sounded to his ears and those of the people lying to him that he is the only one who can win the presidency for the PDP and that the ticket of the party will not be for someone like him, who will lose the election and run to Dubai, only to come back two years to another election.”
