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2023: PDP Stalwarts Differ Over Speculations Of Wike Working For Tinubu In Rivers

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PDP Take Bold Decision On G5 Governors, Fayose, Others

As the crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lingers, some party stalwarts have expressed varying opinions about speculations that the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has resolved to work for All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

Naija News reports that these speculations follow Wike’s constant pronouncements that he would not work to support the presidential bid of the PDP flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar.

Wike and four other aggrieved PDP governors called the G5 or integrity group have withheld their support for Atiku due to the refusal of the PDP national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu to resign from his position as a person of southern extraction.

The Rivers governor and his counterparts in Oyo, Benue, Abia and Enugu states, Seyi Makinde, Samuel Ortom, Okezie Ikpeazu and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, respectively, are bent on Ayu’s removal because they claim the PDP presidential candidate and party chairman should not come from the same regional bloc.

The resolution of the G5 governors led by Wike has raised several reactions in recent times, as some moves by Wike like his endorsement of the Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who is an APC governor raised eyebrows that he might be working for Tinubu.

However, Naija News learnt that while some PDP chieftains think Wike and his group can’t leave the party, others think, he doesn’t need to leave to work for Tinubu or any presidential candidate.

Some party sources told Punch that Wike would remain a member of the PDP but would mobilise support for Tinubu in Rivers.

This is even after the governor have reiterated that he and his group are yet to pick a presidential candidate to support.

Wike has however vowed that as far as other PDP candidates in Rivers State like the governorship, House of Representatives, Senate and state Assembly are concerned, they have his full backing.

Naija News gathered that a close ally of the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom who is also part of the G5 governors confided in Punch that the possibility of Wike working with Tinubu should not be ruled out.

The source, who pleaded not to be named revealed to Punch that “Governor Wike is passionate about the presidency moving to the South in 2023. If you have ever been in a meeting where he made this argument, you will understand this. It is difficult to convince him that there is an alternative to a southern presidency. He supported the North in 2019 by openly backing the Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal. He expected the favour to be returned to the South this time but that did not happen.

“It is a shame that Ayu, who should have quietly resigned to assuage the fears of these leaders, is sitting tight. Maybe Wike has chosen to demonstrate to everyone that he means business. If Ayu is staying on and Atiku is not ready to do anything about it, I think Wike will support Tinubu. One thing is certain, he will not leave the PDP.”

However, when contacted to react to the issue, the spokesman of the National Election Management Committee of the Presidential Campaign Council, Dino Melaye, ruled out Wike’s defection to any party even as he insisted that talks of reconciliation between the two camps were ongoing.

Melaye told Punch that “We are still talking and he (Wike) is not defecting.”

But the Director of Strategic Communication of the PDP Campaign Council, Chief Dele Momodu, while reacting to the development also said even though he knew nothing about the rumoured speculation, Wike has made his position clear on the matter.

Momodu said to Punch that “I can’t respond until he (Wike) does.”