The 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on Thursday said the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, would have allocated the party’s ticket to himself if he had the power.

Atiku was reacting to Wike’s remark that he won’t be allowed to emerge as PDP’s presidential candidate in 2027.

DAILY POST reports that Wike, while addressing a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, said the former Vice President stands no chance in 2027.

Wike claimed that Atiku was lobbying for another chance to emerge as the party’s flag bearer but that he won’t be given the opportunity.

The Minister had said: “He is lobbying for another chance, but the chance will not be there. In which party? How can we rely on one man for so many years?”

Responding through his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku reminded Wike of how he “schooled him and his protégé” during the 2019 election.

Speaking with DAILY POST, Shaibu said: “If he had the power to distribute presidential tickets like party favors, he’d certainly have kept one for himself. After all, Atiku thoroughly schooled him and his chosen protégé in his own backyard ahead of the 2019 election and then handed him a resounding defeat in the 2023 primaries in Abuja.

“Yet, despite his public proclamation that Tinubu is destined to win in 2027, here he is, obsessing over who gets to be the PDP’s candidate.

“Isn’t it too early in the day for that? Our focus should be on the real issues—the worsening conditions of living for Nigerians.

“This hunger is becoming unbearable; it’s what we should be addressing, not political maneuvers for 2027.”

2027: Allocate PDP presidential ticket to yourself if you have power – Atiku replies Wike