Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has replied former vice president Atiku Abubakar, saying he should go home after Nigerians rejected him several times in the presidential election.
Atiku had taken a swipe at Wike over the local government elections in the state.
The Action Peoples Party (APP) won 22 out of the 23 local government chairmanship posts in the exercise, a move Atiku said is a reflection of Wike’s rejection by the people. But weeks after, the minister said having contested the presidential election in 2019 and 2023 as the PDP candidate and lost, Atiku has been rejected by Nigerians.
“We never contested local government elections. Did we contest [Rivers LG election]? Did we pick form? I hear Atiku Abubakar say, ‘Oh they have rejected me in Rivers State. Okay, assuming though not conceding, he had lost so many times, Nigerians have also rejected him,” Wike said on Saturday at a luncheon he organised in honour of the 10th Legislative Assembly of Rivers State.
“If you say for an election we did not contest; never participated that shows Nigerians have rejected us, it is okay. You that contested and failed woefully, Nigerians have rejected you, therefore pack and go home.”
