The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has warned the presidential flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, against picking the governor of Rivers State, Nyesome Wike, as his running mate.
According to MURIC, the Rivers State Governor is allegedly one of the bigoted Christian governors who had been blacklisted by Nigerian Muslims.
The Islamic organisation shared this view in a statement signed and circulated by its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
The group said it had come to its knowledge that Wike is among those being considered by the PDP and Atiku as a possible vice presidential candidate and deemed it necessary to warn the party and its flagbearer against such a move.
“Wike is an open enemy of Islam, a Muslim-hater primus inter pareil and an unrepentant mosque destroyer,” the statement alleged.
“The extremist remarks of Wike are still on record. He declared Rivers State a Christian State contrary to the constitution,” the group’s statement reads in part.
The Islamic rights group expressed the fears that the Rivers State Governor may create a worse situation and an unconducive environment for Muslims in Nigeria if he becomes a vice president of the country.
According to the MURIC, “Wike should not be allowed to hold any post at the federal level.”
The group claimed that “Wike hates the sight of mosques” and is ready to use his office as the number two citizen of the country to destroy all mosques in Nigeria.
MURIC said that the Governor “is intolerant, unpredictable and violence-inclined” and does not have the trust of Muslims in Nigeria.
The rights group believes that Wike, who came second in the PDP’s presidential primary election, “will definitely be a bad market for Atiku.”
MURIC said that Wike does not have electoral value at the national level and for that reason should be overlooked by the main opposition party.
“We, therefore, advise Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to avoid Wike by all means,” MURIC said.