‘What Will Happen To PDP Should They Decide To Sanction Wike, Makinde, Ortom, Others’

The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been warned not to contemplate sanctioning the five aggrieved governors if they endorse another presidential candidate for the 2023 election.

Naija News understands that the aggrieved governors, who are expected back in the country today, have been in the United Kingdom to finalise plans on who to support for next year’s election between Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress and Labour Party’s Peter Obi.

Reports had emerged claiming that the leadership of the main opposition party are contemplating sanctioning the governors, known as G5, for their anti-party activities.

Speaking separately to The Nation, two loyalists of Governor Wike warned that any move to sanction the G-5 governors would have grave consequences.

Ogbonna Nwuke and Chidi Lloyd warned that top members of the main opposition party would dump the PDP if the G5 governors are punished for dumping former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for another candidate.

Nwuke, who is the spokesperson for the Rivers State PDP Campaign Council, said: “Those who are calling for sanction are unable to accept the truth. I believe that the PDP understands the implications of such action if they contemplate it.

“Finally, that will mean the burial of the PDP because a big segment of the party affected by what is going on in the party will turn their back against the PDP and it will not be a good thing in an election year.

“We cannot on one hand say we are operating democracy, which encourages free speech, free association and at the same time trying to punish people whose only fault is to say, we don’t agree with what is happening in our party. How can that amount to anti-party? It doesn’t.

“Those hanging around the presidential candidate have long misled him. These issues would have been addressed and the party would have been together as one unit to fight its opponents in the coming election.

“It is obvious that there are people who think they have something to gain by excluding some members of the party and such exclusion will not be in the best interest of the PDP in any sense.

“What the PDP needs is inclusiveness. What the PDP needs is to address issues that everybody agrees have been wrongly handled. The PDP needs to persuade those who are still angry for support. There is still time to persuade them.”

On his part, Lloyd, the Emohia Local Government Area Chairman, accused Atiku’s running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa, of betraying South’s quest for power.

The former House of Representatives member stated that the Delta State governor has brought nothing to the opposition party.

Lloyd said: “The only advice I have for the PDP is that when a man finds himself in a hole, the best thing to do is to stop digging. Sanctioning the G-5 governors means burying the party. Those hanging around Atiku are the real enemies of Atiku and the PDP.

“Have they not understood now that Okowa has not brought anything to the table? It is visible to the blind and audible to the deaf.

“We stand by our governor. Whatever he tells us to do that is what we will do.”