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 Atiku Abubakar, the People's Democratic Party's (PDP) nominee for president, has requested an apology from Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike for remarks he made about the 2003 presidential election. According to Naija News, Wike claimed that Olusegun Obasanjo "knelt" before Atiku in 2003 during the flag-off of the Eneka-Igbo Etche Road construction project on Friday in Port Harcourt. In 2003, when it was obvious that Atiku was in a position to succeed him as president, the governor of Rivers claimed that Obasanjo kneeled to beg Atiku. Atiku's spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, responded to the allegations in a Saturday interview with Vanguard, saying the governor of Rivers cannot be testifying about an event that he was not present for or familiar with in 2003. He claimed that Wike could not claim to be aware of the events that occurred between Obasanjo and Atiku at that time because he was removed from the national political theater at the time. Therefore, Shaibu demanded that Wike apologize to his principal for what he was alleged to have done in terms of fabricating stories and distorting the truth. "In his futile attempt to rewrite history, the Governor of Rivers State, whose term will end in a few months, addressed the public, telling unsupported tales of what happened during the 2003 presidential election cycle," he said.

"Suffice it to say that Wike was nowhere near the national level of political action at the time, but he went ahead and made up stories that have been variously narrated by people who were actually there, and whose accounts contradict the impression the Rivers helmsman wanted to convey." The same Wike should be held to the same standard of proof when presenting evidence of what transpired between Atiku and Obasanjo in 2003, unlike the way Wike demanded video or photographic proof of himself and his companions from political opponents of the PDP during their disgraceful meeting in London. "Governor Wike cannot be giving accounts of an event to which he was not a party and to which he was, at the time, not physically present in the national political arena." Obasanjo and Wike both deserve an apology. Shaibu criticized Wike for attempting to sully the memory of the late Chief Tony Anenih by including him in his made-up tales and lies. According to Atiku's aide, Obasanjo is a highly respected statesman, so Wike's vile remarks about his presidency are completely unacceptable.