The aggrieved Governors are hell-bent on working against their party’s presidential candidate. With the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) showing no sign of abating less than 30 days before the election, members loyal to Atiku Abubakar have come up with new strategies to neutralize the aggrieved governors.
Popularly known as the G-5, governors including Nyesom Wike, Okezie Ikpeazu, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Seyi Makinde, and Samuel Ortom of Rivers, Abia, Enugu, Oyo, and Benue states respectively, have continued to dissociate themselves from the Atiku campaign.
Recall the governors, who are aggrieved over the continued stay of Iyorchia Ayu in office as the PDP National Chairman, had earlier pulled out of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council in September 2022.
Even though the governors have not publicly endorsed anyone, it is believed that they’ve resolved to work for two rival candidates all in a bid to prevent Atiku’s emergence as the president.
Meanwhile, as all the efforts made by the Atiku camp to persuade the G-5 seemed to have failed, supporters of the former Vice President have now come up with strategies to conquer their internal enemies.
As reported by The Punch, loyalists to the PDP presidential candidate in Benue State have been hard at work reaching out to party faithful in their strongholds to drum up support for him.
For instance, a former governor of the state, Gabriel Suswam, has been convening a series of stakeholders’ meetings in the Benue North-East Senatorial District, trying to convince eligible voters to support Atiku in spite of Governor Ortom’s opposition.
An associate of the governor anonymously told The Punch that Suswam and playwright, Professor Iyorwuese Hagher, had been doing massive mobilization for the former Vice President since Ortom insisted that Ayu must go before he can support Atiku.
“Suswam addressed stakeholders from Zone A recently and Iyorwuese has been talking with his kinsmen. They are doing it in such a way as not to offend Ortom. They are friends with the governor but they are also careful not to overdo things. As a result, there is a lack of statewide coordination,” the source said.
He further stated that even though Ortom had not openly endorsed a particular candidate, the governor had instructed his foot soldiers to embrace Labour Party’s Peter Obi.
“Governor Ortom has already inaugurated an Obi team using his most trusted aides and allies. Former governorship aspirant, Prof Dennis Tyavyar, is chairman of the group. He was Commissioner for Education under Ortom before he stepped down to contest the governorship election,” the paper quoted the source.
It was also gathered that a former National Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus, is spearheading the Atiku campaign in Rivers State.
Secondus is being assisted by a former governor of the state, Celestine Omehia, ex-Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Austin Opara, and an erstwhile federal lawmaker, Lee Maeba, to counter Wike’s anti-Atiku crusades.
While Governors Ikpeazu and Ugwuanyi are covertly using their foot soldiers to mobilize for Obi to avoid being caught for anti-party activities.
