Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, has asked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to apologise for the divisive comments of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the party.
The former vice-president had said northerners should vote for him and not for a Yoruba or Igbo candidate.
Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is Yoruba, while Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party is Igbo.
Atiku said this on Saturday at an interactive session of the Arewa townhall policy dialogue in Kaduna.
Atiku, who is from Adamawa in the north-east, told his audience which included Hausa and Fulani persons, that they do not need an Igbo or Yoruba as president but “someone from the north”.
“I have traversed the whole of this country,” he said.
“I know the whole of this country. I have built bridges across this country. I think what the average northerner needs is somebody who is from the north, and who also understands the other parts of Nigeria and who has been able to build bridges across the rest of the country.
“This is what the northerner needs. He (northerner) doesn’t need a Yoruba candidate, or an Igbo candidate. This is what the northerner needs.
Speaking in Port Harcourt on Monday, Wike said while he doubted the possibility of Atiku making such a statement at a critical time in the nation’s history, such disposition of the presidential candidate would justify his fight for equity, justice and fairness in the PDP.
He said the party must address the issue and appeal to Nigerians otherwise people would begin to see the party as one that lacked justice and equity.
