Strong indications have emerged that Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, may soon lose one of the four disciples supporting him against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in their fight for equity in the composition of the party’s leadership.
Governor Wike, together with governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu and Samuel Ortom of Benue, generally referred to as the G5 governors of the PDP, have withheld support from Atiku until their demand for the resignation of the party’s chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, is met.
Apart from accusing Ayu of corruption, the G-5 governors from the southern part of the country have contended that it betrays equity for the party’s presidential candidate and national chairman to come from the same region (North).
But findings by News Direct have shown that Governor Ikpeazu of Abia may become the first among the disgruntled southern governors to abandon the G-5 following Thursday’s visit of the Abia PDP delegation to Atiku in Abuja.
PDP’s Abia governorship candidate, Professor Eleazar Uche Ikonne, whom the governor endorsed to succeed him at the party’s governorship primary, led the delegation.
Multiple sources close to Ikpeazu told this website on Thursday that the Abia governor may have assessed his membership of the G-5 and arrived at a conclusion that continuing with the group may cost him his senatorial bid.
While Ikpeazu has yet to formally announce his withdrawal from the G-5, a close aide said it has become difficult to tell where the governor’s loyalty lies because he (Ikpeazu) associates with the G-5 in public but allegedly works against the group’s interest by indirectly courting Atiku behind his colleagues.
Ikpeazu, according to the source, believes that unlike him who needs every support possible to win the Abia South senatorial election, Governor Wike is not running for any office in 2023 and will lose nothing if the G-5 governors’ outing leads to an unfavourable end.
The 2023 presidential and national assembly elections will be held on the same day (February 25) and our source said the Abia governor would not want a situation where working against the PDP presidential candidate will affect his senatorial election as voters supporting the PDP would be faced with choosing different parties at the polls.
Meanwhile, during his visit to Atiku on Thursday, Professor Ikonne assured the party’s presidential candidate that “Abia is PDP and there’s no concern about it,” adding “We are PDP and we are very faithful party members.”
On Tuesday, a spokesperson of the Atiku campaign, Dino Melaye, hinted that some members of Wike’s G-5 indicated interest to work for PDP’s success at the polls.
“Above all, by the grace of God at the end of the day, we may not get everybody together. We cannot get everybody together. But, some of these governors are still going to work for their party,” Melaye said during an interview on Channels TV’s ‘Politics Today’ on Tuesday.
“Senator Abba Moro and Governor of Abia when talking in Makurdi also made it clear that they will support the PDP from head to toe.” Melaye added.
A top Abia government official who confided in News Direct stated that Ikpeazu, whose 8-year tenure as governor ends on May 29, 2023, does not want to take chances in his quest to dislodge Enyinnaya Abaribe as the Senator representing Abia South.
Abaribe has been occupying the office since 2011 and is determined to stop Ikpeazu from going to the Senate after the latter blocked his bid to succeed him as governor.
