Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
On Saturday, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and three disgruntled governors elected on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform left Nigeria.
Track News has learned that the governors traveled to Spain after the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) urged the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to resign after the 2023 general elections.
Other governors who are upset include Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, and Samuel Ortom of Delta State (Benue State).
The Rivers State Governor’s camp had insisted on the removal of the party’s national chairman, Ayu, in order for the governor’s camp to support the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Governor Wike’s camp, on the other hand, has remained steadfast in its demand that the office of the party’s National Chairman be zoned to the South to give people in the region a sense of belonging.
In an interview with the Sunday Sun, a source close to one of the governors revealed that the governors will remain in the PDP but will not participate in the party’s presidential campaign until Ayu is removed.
According to the source, the governors will “focus their efforts on mobilizing support for PDP candidates in their respective states.” However, until their demand is met, they may be unable to participate in the presidential campaign.”
However, a source close to the camp of the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku, revealed that the presidential campaign would continue, and that the party would continue to appease the disgruntled governors.
“The train may have left the station, but it will stop at stations and take off either people who may have missed the initial take off and they will come onboard,” the source said. Nobody will be left behind.”
A member of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the party would contest the 2023 elections if Governor Wike’s camp refused to join the camp.
“If Wike and his people insist on not participating in the presidential campaign, there is nothing we can do,” the NEC member said. We’ll go to the polls without them. It will either be one of two things.”
