2023: Inside Details of Tinubu, Wike Meeting In France

The Special Adviser to the Governor of Lagos State on Drainage and Water Resources, Joe Igbokwe, has revealed that the Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state, has visited the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress(APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in France.

Igbokwe made this claim on his official Facebook page on Thursday. While he failed to explain the outcome of the meeting between Wike and Tinubu, the aide hinted that it is part of the latter’s strategy to win the 2023 presidential polls.

“While they are on social media abusing everybody, Governor Wike goes to France to meet Asiwaju.

“Abuse, calling names, hate, and bigotry are no strategy. They hated and abused PMB (President Muhammadu Buhari) since 2015 and now they have transferred the aggression to Asiwaju. We wait and see,” the post reads.

The New Diplomat reports that the statement is coming amid reports that some members of the opposition party might be considering a switch of allegiance to other parties due to fallouts over the presidential primary of the party and the failure of the party’s presidential standard-bearer, Atiku Abubakar, to pick the Rivers governor as his running mate for the 2023 general elections.

It would be recalled that Tinubu had departed Nigeria on Monday shortly after he held a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The development is coming in the wake of Tinubu’s revelation on Sunday that he was still searching for his running mate for the 2023 presidential election.

Wike, however, had disclosed on Tuesday that he was in Turkey, alongside his Abia counterpart, Okezie Ikpeazu, for a “much needed vacation.”

The New Diplomat gathered that in recent times, Wike has been wearing a yoruba cap at public functions.

Many commentators had suggested that the dressing might mean things to come, with some hinting that the Governor might be eyeing a move to the APC to support its presidential candidate, Tinubu, who hails from the South west region of the country.

A member of the PDP’s Board of Trustees (BoT), who spoke with the members of the press, had earlier said Wike’s body language has been causing headaches for the party.

“Wike has been wearing a particular ethnic cap since the day we submitted our Presidential candidate and his running mate to the INEC.

“We are afraid of his deafening silence. We’d lick his shoes, prostrate for him not to leave the PDP. Because if he leaves, we’re doomed completely,” the member said.

It would be recalled that former governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose had taken to his Twitter page to insist that despite the fact that his party chose a Northerner as its presidential candidate, the next president of the country must come from the South.

Fayose declared his support for a southern president in 2023 but fell short of revealing the name of the candidate he is going to support.