Members of Iwhnurohna Monitoring Group (IMG), a sociocultural group of Iwhnurohna indigenes of the Niger Delta resident in North America and Europe, have called on the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar, to pick the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, as his running mate for the presidential election.

The group said that Mr Abubakar should do so immediately and without equivocation, vacillation or contemplation.

Members of the Diaspora-based Niger Delta group made the call at the end of their world-wide zoom meeting on Monday, resolving that an Atiku-Wike ticket will be the winning ticket for the PDP.

A spokesperson for the group, Chindah Wami, said that an Atiku-Wike ticket is the only ticket that will definitely, unquestionably guarantee victory for the PDP.

Mr Wami added that, “No one should forget that without Wike there would not have been any Peoples Democratic Party to which people would have returned to,” adding: “If there is anyone who should be thanked for keeping PDP strong today, Wike is the one. His strong showing as runner-up in the recently concluded primaries will bring the party together if he is picked as the running mate.”

Members of the Iwhnurohna group recalled that prior to the primaries, Mr Wike said that he would not leave the party even if he lost in the primaries.

Mr Wami recalled that even though Mr Wike’s friend, Aminu Tabuwal, lost at the end of the primaries in 2018 in Port Harcourt, Mr Wike still supported the party’s nominee, Mr Abubakar, in the 2019 presidential elections.

“Wike said the same thing now that even if he loses the presidential nomination he would still support whoever is the party’s flagbearer,” Mr Wami said, adding that, “It is not every politician that will act like Wike and mean it.”

Members of the Diaspora Nigerian group said that citizens of the country are concerned about the sordid, unpleasant and depressing state of the Nigerian nation today, and noted that it will be reversed by a leadership that cares about the general wellbeing of the citizens without regard to ethnicity, religion or socioeconomic status.

“An Atiku-Wike ticket will not only guarantee victory for the PDP it is the only ticket will reverse the wrong direction that the country has been sailing in the last seven years,” the IMG spokesperson said.

Members of the IMG pointed out that Wike has a proven track record as an effective governor for which he was nicknamed, “Mr Project” even by some prominent members of the ruling APC party. He was also an effective Minister for Education as exemplified by the hundreds of Almajiri schools he built for the education of school-age children in Northern Nigeria.