PDP Crisis: Wike to Reveal Agreement with Dogara, Lawal
•Former Speaker hits back: If there is anything you are suffering from, I never thought amnesia would be one of them
Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has stated that at the appropriate time, he would reveal agreement he had with a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, over the structure of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Wike also urged the presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to call to order, members of the presidential campaign council of the party, to stop attacking the G-5 governors.
The Rivers governor gave the warning yesterday, at the flag-off of the Indorama-Agbonchia-Ogale-Ebubu-East/West Link Road in Eleme Local Government Area of the State, performed by the former governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko.
He described Dogara, as a man who cannot stand by his work, remarking that soon, he would reveal content of discussion both Dogara and Lawal, had with him at his residence when they visited.
“What I don’t like in life is people that don’t have character. I can’t stand it. At the appropriate time, I would challenge them to a debate. Ask Dogara: what made you leave PDP?” the Governor asked during the event held on Monday.
“Dogara was to see me; unknown to me, he gave me an excuse and I was watching Dogara on TV being received by President Muhammadu Buhari that he has gone to APC. I say ‘Okay, no problem’.
“The same Dogara said the presidency should be zoned to southern Nigeria for there to be peace. Now, I hear about the same Dogara (backing Atiku from the north). Is that how you do things? Can’t you say something and stand by it?”
At the appropriate, time I will challenge them for a debate,” he said.
He recalled how Dogara had allegedly evaded an appointment they were to have and surreptitiously left the PDP to join the APC.
“Dogara was to see me. Unknown to me, he gave me an excuse and I was watching Dogara on TV being received by President Muhammadu Buhari that he has gone to APC,” he recalled.
He however, warned that any further attack would attract the wrath of the Integrity Group and together with the G5, they would not hesitate to strike back.
Reacting to Wike’s statement on Monday, Dogara said: “To my brother, Governor Nyesom Wike; if there is anything you are suffering from, I never thought amnesia would be one of them. Why would you think no one, except you, is entitled to a certain set of principles he/she cannot compromise?
“It’s such a pity if you cannot remember what our discussion and agreement was all about. Why should only your own position be respected and followed? I would never betray a friend and a brother that is why I won’t respond to your tirade on live TV.
“The details of our conversation is sealed up with me but if you feel it’s okay to throw it to the public kindly give me a written consent to divulge it so that the public can judge who is saying the truth. Thank God there was a witness!”
Wike and Dogara’s controversy is the latest in the crisis rocking the main opposition PDP since the party’s presidential primary earlier in May.
The Rivers State Governor, who lost to Atiku in the exercise, claims the process was unfair and is also insisting that the National Chairman of the PDP Iyorchia resigns his position as part of moves to reach a truce.
While efforts are being made to resolve the crisis, the Governor and his allies have pulled
out of the party’s presidential campaign with Wike saying the group will make a decision soon
