Loyalists of the Peoples Democratic Party’s nominee, Atiku Abubakar, have dismissed suggestions that Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State, has decided to support Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress.
Wike had made it clear that supporting Atiku was out of the question unless the current National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, was ousted from office, leading a group of four other PDP governors and chieftains.
Seyi Makinde, Samuel Ortom, Okezie Ikpeazu, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the governors of Oyo, Benue, Abia, and Enugu states, respectively, are determined to have Ayu removed from office on the grounds that the PDP presidential candidate and party chairman should not come from the same geographic bloc.
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Governors and other influential party members quit the presidential campaign council in September in an effort to persuade Atiku to put pressure on Ayu to step down. These individuals included former governors Donald Duke (Cross River), Jonah Jang (Plateau), and Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), as well as former Ministers of Information Prof. Jerry Gana and Chief Bode George.
The former vice president, however, made the decision to remain silent and insisted that Ayu alone would make the decision as to whether or not to continue.
Meanwhile, there were rumors that Governor Wike had decided to endorse the candidacy of Tinubu after Atiku refused to take the advice of the resentful party elders because he thought his chances were better than those of the Labour Party candidate, Mr. Peter Obi.
Our correspondent was given exclusive information by sources familiar with this development that Wike would endorse Tinubu in Rivers while still remaining a PDP member.
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A few weeks prior, the governor had stated that the PDP in Rivers would support all candidates for the National Assembly, House of Representatives, and governorship elections, adding that until the right thing was done, Atiku remained a loner in the oil-rich state.
“PDP will win our state. I am not hiding it as far as the governorship, House of Representatives, Senate and state Assembly are concerned. The other one, we have not decided, until the right thing is done,” Wike had said.
Additionally, a week ago, at the inauguration of the Rukpokwu-Igwuruta Link Road in the Rivers state’s Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, Wike sparked alarm in the Atiku camp by posing some unsettling questions to the enormous audience that had gathered to watch the ceremony.
“Then the other one (presidential election), I will come and tell you where you will vote. All I will tell you is, don’t worry, calm down. Those that I mentioned, make sure you vote for them. Very soon, we will meet at our houses and take a decision about where we are going. You will work for a party that has come to your aid, a party that has brought dividends of democracy,” he added.
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Although he insisted that talks of reconciliation between the two camps were still ongoing, Dino Melaye, the spokesman of the National Election Management Committee of the Presidential Campaign Council, ruled out Wike’s defection to any party when speaking with our correspondent about the development.
“We are still talking and he (Wike) is not defecting,” Melaye said.
In a similar vein, Chief Dele Momodu, Director of Strategic Communication for the PDP Campaign Council, declared that he would answer if the governor made it known what his stance was on the issue.
“I can’t respond until he (Wike) does,” he added, even as he said he knew nothing about the rumoured plan of the governor to align forces with the APC presidential candidate.The Rivers State governor was not “as important as he thinks he is,” according to Atiku’s supporter Mustapha Shehu, Director General of Borno House-to-House for Atiku/Okowa campaign organization.
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“The message on almost every street is that Atiku is the preferred candidate of Nigerians. This is one of the reasons Atiku decided to move on without the G-5 (governors) even though his door remains open for reconciliation. In the current scheme of things, it is becoming evident that Wike is not as important as he thinks he is,” he added.
A close friend of Governor Samuel Ortom who declined to provide his identity warned our correspondent that Wike and Tinubu might collaborate in the future.
He said, “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.
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“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.”
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