A former spokesperson for the Northern Elders Forum has claimed that the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike wields greater influence within the Peoples Democratic Party than former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed made the assessment during an interview with Daily Trust from 12:39, questioning Atiku’s ability to maintain party cohesion despite his long-standing political prominence.
He acknowledged Atiku’s stature while highlighting his extended absence from executive power since 2007. “The Vice President Atiku Abubakar, I have tremendous respect for him. He has been the man standing, but he’s been out of power since 2007,” he stated. “He’s been in politics, but he’s been out of power since 2007. It tells you something about him that he has, unfortunately, not been able to keep the PDP together, resist the threat of Wike to the last point.”
The former Northern Elders Forum spokesperson expressed surprise at Wike’s apparent dominance over a political heavyweight like Atiku. “If somebody like Wike can come into PDP and mess it up with a huge colossus like Vice President Atiku, who was a product of PDP, who did everything for the party – shouldn’t that ask you about his politics? Right now, Wike is a lot more influential in the PDP than him, and Wike was just a governor. Now, he’s a minister. How is it possible? Where did he lose the ball? Where did he drop?” he asked.
The former Presidential aide suggested that any potential departure by Atiku from the PDP would represent a victory for Wike’s faction. “If he (Atiku) is contemplating leaving PDP, he can only leave for people like Wike. Now, doesn’t that tell you just how his influence has gone? He was the backbone and the strong point of PDP,” Ahmed observed.
Drawing from his administrative experience, Baba Ahmed recalled the party’s historical strength under the Obasanjo-Atiku partnership. “I was a federal permanent secretary when he and Obasanjo became President and Vice President. I was in INEC as secretary when they won their second tenure. I knew how powerful PDP was,” he said.
He characterized potential coalition discussions involving Atiku’s exit from the PDP as a strategic surrender. “If somebody like Wike can make Atiku leave the PDP, you are literally abandoning the ship. So, if all these coalition talks involving the Vice President walking out of PDP, literally, what he’s saying is that he has lost the war to Wike,” he concluded.
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