Running mate fallout: Wike’s group meets in Abuja to plot next move

Apparently still angered by the lack of meaning initiative at reconciliation from the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, on Sunday, met with governors backing him to consider the way forward as the 2023 presidential elections inch closer.

The closed-door meeting, which held in Rivers State Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja, was attended by state governors known to be his major backers including Sam Ortom (Benue), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia).

Also in the meeting were former state governors including Donald Duke (Cross River), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Ibrahim Idris (Kogi) and Jonah Jang (Plateau).
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Others include former PDP Deputy National Vice Chairman North, Senator Suleiman Nazif; former Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Adoke; member of the House of Representatives from Kogi State, Tijjani Yusuf, among others.

There were also various coordinators of his presidential campaign led by former Information minister Jerry Gana.

Even though the agenda of the meeting was not publicly revealed, the Nigerian Tribune gathered that it was a fallout of the vice-presidential selection process in which Atiku snubbed Wike despite being recommended by the committee set up for the purpose.

The group is miffed that despite humiliating the Rivers governor, the PDP presidential candidate had yet to reach out to him to placate him as being pushed by Governor Ortom.

Gana, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees and North Central Coordinator of the Wike Presidential campaign, spoke briefly to reporters after the meeting saying: “This is the first meeting we are holding with all our candidates in the states after the primaries. We are united and are one.

“We know that developments will unfold and when they do, we shall brief Nigerians.”

Meanwhile, some chieftains of the PDP have begun preliminary discussions with the camp of Wike to appease him over the running mate issue.

The discussion was being kept away from the prying eyes of the public, especially the press to avoid distraction.

A source told the Nigerian Tribune that Atiku was not directly involved in the talks at the moment to enable the two parties to do diligent work.

The source said the PDP standard-bearer would come in at the concluding stage of the ongoing reconciliatory talks with Wike.

According to the source, PDP and its candidate have resolved not to engage in any blame game with the Rivers governor henceforth on the issues.

The PDP spokesman recalled how the opposition party had on various occasions alerted that the APC government had ceded sovereignty over a large portion of our country to terrorists, “many of whom were imported into our country by the APC.”

He further stated: “From the video, in a brazen manner, terrorists as non-state actors boldly showed their faces, boasting, admitting and confirming their participation in the Kuje Prison break, some of whom were former prison inmates who were either jailed or awaiting trial for their previous terrorism act against our country.
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“Nigerians can equally recall the confession by the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai that the APC government knows the plans and whereabouts of the terrorists but failed to act.

According to Ologunagba, about 18,000 Nigerians have been killed by terrorists between 2020 and 2022 “as the criminals continue to be emboldened by the failures and obvious complicity of the APC and to which the PDP had always drawn attention.”

“This is not politics; this is about humanity and leadership, which leadership sadly and unfortunately is missing in our country at this time,” he said.

The PDP added that it is appalled by “the lame response by the apparently helpless, clueless and deflated Buhari Presidency, wherein it told an agonizing nation that President Buhari “has done all and even more than what was expected of him as Commander in Chief by way of morale, material and equipment support to the military…”

“This is a direct admission of incapacity and failure by the Buhari Presidency and the APC. At such a time, in other climes, the President directly leads the charge and takes drastic measures to rescue and protect his citizens.

“In time of adversity, the President transmutes into Consoler-in-Chief to give hope and succour to the citizens. Painfully, Nigeria does not have a President who cares and can stand as Consoler-in-Chief to the citizens.

“It has now become very imperative for Nigerians to take note and realize that the only solution to this unfortunate situation is to hold the APC government accountable. We must come together as a people, irrespective of our political, ethnic and religious affiliations to resist the fascist-leaning tendencies of the APC administration.

Ologunagba called for an urgent meeting of the National Council of State to advise on the way to go over the nation’s worsening insecurity.

“Our nation must not fall. The resilient Nigerian spirit and ‘can-do- attitude’ must be rekindled by all to prevail on the President to immediately and without further delay, accede to the demand by the PDP and other well-meaning Nigerians to convene a special session of the National Council of State to find a lasting solution since the President has, in his own admission, come to his wit’s end,” the PDP spokesman declared.  (culled from TRIBUNE)