Widening Crack: PDP Appeals To Jonathan To Wade In As G-5 Govs Shun Maiduguri Rally
With no end in sight to the crisis rocking the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the party’s leadership has concluded arrangements to meet former president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan within the week. The planned meeting is aimed at finding a lasting solution to the crisis that has involved the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and what is now referred toastheG-5Governorsgroup within the party.
The G-5 governors include Nyesom Wike of Rivers state, Seyi Makinde of Oyo state, Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State. According to a former member of the National Working Committee of the PDP and now a prominent figure in the Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Council, the party was equipped with a credible intelligence that the five governors were sympathetic to the former president.
He said the initial plan was to sustain some alternative plots around the G-5 governors until the Bauchi governor came up with his demand for apology from Atiku. “We have ample intelligence that these recalcitrant governors are inspired by Jonathan; and this is quite unfortunate.
He benefitted from this party and it is bad that he is encouraging Governors Nyesom Wike, Makinde, Ikpeazu, Ugwuanyi and Ortom to behave the way they are doing. He knows these five governors are fighting his cause.
“We got so convinced about this when the Bauchi Governor, Bala Mohammed, brought in his own angle to it.
That was unnecessary and we all know that Bala is the closest northern politician to Jonathan, whether in power or not.
“So, what the party has resolved to do, among others, is to send a powerful delegation to the former president to plead with him to intervene. The delegation is not going to accuse the former president, but to merely plead with him to forgive Atiku, because we already know what is brewing underground.
“That is one of the reasons we cannot afford to appease them perpetually because there is nothing the party does that can satisfy them. So, do we satisfy those in minority and lose the majority? It is a big no. We will forge ahead and win without Wike and his group. “Already, the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) has tentatively approved that all concerned chapters are fortified with focus on certain personalities who have influence in their various states. And when the time comes, Nigerians will know that the G-5 or whatever you call them, are a powerless minority,” he said.
Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, had on Monday, demanded an apology from Atiku for not exercising enough trust in him as the vice chairman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council for North East. As at press time, four of the G5 governors in the meeting were Nyesom Wike Samuel Ortom, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, and Okezie Ikpeazu. Governor Seyi Makinde was, however, absent from the meeting. Wike said they were on a solidarity visit to Mohammed and to also discuss ways they can intervene regarding some challenges surrounding his re-election bid. On his part, Governor Mohammed appreciated the show of concern and said some of the issues as anti-party challenges and treachery in the state.
