River State governor Nyesom Wike hit back at former Jigawa governor, Sule Lamido on Wednesday, describing the  septuagenarian as “irrelevant” to the prevailing political dispensation.

Mr Wike was returning a jibe by the former Jigawa governor wherein the latter labelled him a bombastic politician for his unrestrained outbursts towards his political enemies.

Messrs Wike and Lamido are both chieftains of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.

Mr Wike, in a statement signed by his spokesman Kevin Ebiri on Wednesday, accused Mr Lamido of facilitating the PDP loss in 2015 and 2019 elections. He said the party’s consecutive losses in Jigawa State shows Mr Lamido is of no value to the party.

“With all modesty, only persons plagued by schizophrenia psychosis will ascribe any form of relevance to Alhaji Lamido, under whose leadership the PDP has woefully lost two governorship elections in Jigawa State in quick succession,” Mr Wike said. 

“Such records depict that Alhaji Lamido cannot and does not have such a political following that will benefit the PDP. Those who want electoral victory for the PDP are not dampening the morale required for a political offensive at APC, but Alhaji Lamido is cracking the wall of unity badly.”

The latest brickbats could further worsen efforts by some party leaders to settle the internal crisis that has rocked the PDP since Mr Wike lost the party’s presidential ticket to Atiku Abubakar in May.

The crisis took a bad turn after Mr Abubakar dumped Mr Wike to pick Delta governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate, against the recommendation of a party committee that had put forward the Rivers governor.