Aggrieved PDP Governors Meet In Enugu, Plot Next Move
Aggrieved governors of the Peoples Democratic Party on Sunday met in Enugu to plot their next move, following the visit of the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, to the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, in his private residence on Thursday in Abuja.
The meeting is coming three days after Atiku held a private meeting with Wike where the presidential candidate pleaded for his support ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
The PDP standard bearer met with the Rivers governor as part of his renewed efforts to resolve the lingering crisis between him and the five PDP governors led by Wike.
The Abuja meeting, however, ended in a deadlock as the Rivers governor reportedly insisted that there would be no peace deal until the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, resigned from office.
The party had been engulfed in crisis since its presidential primary in May.
Wike, who lost to Atiku, had expressed dissatisfaction with the exercise, stating that he was unfairly treated by the PDP and was not carried along.
Wike insisted that Ayu must resign if his camp must reach a truce with the party’s flag bearer but Atiku said he had no power to remove the chairman.
Atiku said if the chairman must be removed, due process must be followed by the party’s constitution.
After a series of meetings between them and their representatives failed to address the crisis, Wike and some of his colleagues and allies boycotted the inauguration of the party’s presidential campaign council in Abuja last Wednesday.
Others who also boycotted the event include Prof Jerry Gana; former governors Ayo Fayose, Jonah Jang, Donald Duke and Olusegun Mimiko. A former deputy national chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George, was also absent.
One of Wike’s close allies, who was privy to what was discussed at the Abuja meeting, Senator Olaka Wogu, said that the governor reiterated his demand to the former vice-president that there was no going back on his demand that Ayu must go.
He affirmed that the meeting between Atiku and Wike ended in a stalemate after the governor stood firm on his demands.
However, findings on Sunday revealed that in continuation of their determination to remove the PDP national chairman from office, the five aggrieved governors of the party led by Wike met in Enugu, the Enugu State capital for a strategy meeting.
A member of the PDP National Working Committee said in confidence that the governors met solely to strategise on how to make the party and indeed, Nigeria better.
“The big five governors are meeting, strategising for a better PDP, a better Nigeria where probity, equity and justice reign supreme,” he said.
Pressed to disclose the specific agenda of the meeting, the NWC member who is one of those who recently refunded N28.8m into the party’s account stated, “They are united for a purpose to ensure Ayu is sacked for the unity of our party,” insisting, “Ayu must go.”
The governors, he noted, deserved special praise for championing the cause of justice and equity, not only for the PDP but for Nigeria as a whole.
, Samuel Ortom (Benue), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and the host, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu){kind=link}