The five aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party governors led by Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike will today (Thursday) meet in London, United Kingdom.
Recall that Wike, Governors Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Samuel Ortom (Benue) recently withdrew their membership of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, insisting on the removal of the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu.
Wike is not happy with the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar after the latter settled for the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate despite reportedly having an agreement to run with the Rivers State’s governor on a joint ticket after Wike lost to him in the primary election.
In September, Wike, Makinde and Ortom met in London and today’s meeting is expected to take certain decisions ahead of the 2023 poll.
It was learnt that Monday’s decision by the party and Atiku to flag off the campaign without Wike and his allies may have informed the latest meeting.
So far, efforts to reconcile Atiku and Wike’s allies have not been successful. The Board of Trustees of the party led by the acting Chairman, Adolphus Wabara, set up a reconciliation committee to intervene in the lingering crisis but have been unable to broker peace as expected.
Wike has vowed to remain in the party, promising however not to have anything to do with the presidential campaigns unless Ayu leaves.
This comes as the PDP has described the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as someone dazed by the resounding presentation of Atiku at the hugely successful flag-off of the presidential campaign in Uyo.
The party maintained that Tinubu has become so disoriented that he can no longer articulate or engage in any productive and focused political discourse.
The PDP made the declaration on Wednesday, via a statement by its spokesperson, Debo Ologunagba, insisting that the APC’s presidential candidate lacks depth as reflected in his recent utterances against other political parties.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the Atiku/Okowa presidential campaign, Kola Ologbondiyan has given Nigerians confidence that the anguish and pains they are presently experiencing under the ruling All Progressives Congress would cease when Atiku wins the 2023 poll.
Ologbondiyan indicated an interaction with some PDP youths in Abuja on Wednesday.
He pointed out that the PDP and its presidential flag bearer were worried about the pains and sufferings the APC has inflicted on citizens in the last seven years.
He stated, “Among the arrays of presidential candidates, only Atiku Abubakar has the practicable plan on how to end the pains, the hunger, the starvation, the economic woes, the lower purchasing power and the sense of hopelessness which the APC administration has brought upon Nigerians.
Tinubu and Atiku
The PDP spokesman, Ologunagba who stressed that the APC’s presidential candidate has proved to Nigerians that he is incapable of serious presidential discourse, said, “It is nevertheless disgraceful that the APC front man, Tinubu, who is facing multiple legitimacy and disqualification issues, is displaying such vacuity in the public domain.’’
He said, “Dazed by the resounding presentation of the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar at the hugely successful flag-off of our presidential campaign in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, on Monday, October 10, 2022, Asiwaju Tinubu has become disoriented to the extent that he can no longer articulate or engage in any productive and focused political discourse.
“If there is any party that can be described as a “termite party” of course it will not be the PDP which is fully “articulated” and soaring with its campaign but the doomed APC that is crawling, having become legally crippled and no longer a legitimate and valid vehicle to field candidates in the 2023 general elections.”
“Since he procured the APC ticket, the APC candidate has not made any meaningful comment or contribution to serious national issues, instead he has been engaging in illogical, incoherent and fatuous utterances.”
In a related development, the Kaduna State chapter of the PDP on Wednesday inaugurated a 60-member presidential campaign council with the former governor of the state, Alhaji Mukhtar Yero as its chairman ahead of Atiku’s planned visit to the state.
Yero was inaugurated alongside a former Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency and PDP governorship aspirant, Mohammed Sani Sidi, as the deputy chairman of the committee.
Other members of the committee are Haruna Sa’eed, Mohammed Abbas, the National Youth Leader, Muhammed Kadade, Shehu Sani, and 54 others.
Inaugurating the council members at the party secretariat, the state PDP Chairman, Hassan Hyat, said it was expected that the committee members will work vigorously for the victory of the party’s presidential candidate.
He said the party in Kaduna State was waxing stronger with the presidential campaign already flagged off in Uyo State.
Hyat explained that because of the peculiar nature of Kaduna, the presidential candidate would be in the state for three working days on a special assignment where he would interface with key stakeholders of the party across the three senatorial zones.
“We already had meetings with all the gubernatorial aspirants including the gubernatorial candidate in the state on their roles ahead of the presidential candidate’s visit,’’ he noted.