The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has said the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike is not the custodian of votes in the State.
CEOAFRICA had reported that Wike had promised never to support Atiku’s presidential bid.
Wike and four other PDP governors have been at loggerheads with Atiku and the party’s leadership since he lost at the presidential primaries.
He and his allies are calling for the resignation of the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchai Ayu, adding that both the Presidential candidate and National Chairman cannot be from the same region.
Atiku, who reacted through his campaign council spokesman, Dino Melaye said Wike can’t manipulate votes in Rivers State with the introduction of electronic voting.
Melaye, who disclosed this during an interview with Channels Television said the Governor can’t decide or control who the people will vote.
He said; “It’s very fallacious for you to think that because that governor is not with your candidate he will lose the State.’’
“I will cast your mind back to a day when you sat down and wrote result for a State. We are not in that era any longer. With the advent of BVAS and electronic transmission of results, in Rivers State for example, Governor Wike is not the custodian or he is not to appropriate the votes of Rivers.’’
“If you now go to elections as it’s now with electoral reforms, the grassroots matters; the electorate matter; the youth and women matter. That is why Atiku is speaking directly to the conscience of the electorate.”