There appears to be a crisis in the camps of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and his four other colleagues over the choice of the presidential candidate they would support in the February 25, 2023, presidential election.
This is as stakeholders in the five states, who are also contesting elections have gradually begun to disagree with their self-styled Integrity Group members, who had made known their intention to announce their preferred candidate by January.
Wike and other members of the Integrity Group like Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, however, seemed confused as their followers have declined to support any other candidate outside of Atiku Abubakar.
This dilemma and apparent despondency were due to a recent comment by the Wike that he would decide, who to vote for in the presidential election later in January 2023.
There’s a swirling belief that Makinde was in a deal with the All Progressives Congress (APC)presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, for a support swap.
Yet, in the Southwest zone, the party has not been seen to be pushing the agenda of the G-5 governors as the publicity secretaries of the PDP in Ogun, Ondo, Lagos, and Ekiti, said recently that there was no justification for the resignation of the National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu.
The PDP spokesmen, who met included Hakeem Amode, Lagos; Kennedy Peretti, Ondo; Hon. Raphael ‘Wumi Adeyanju, Ekiti and Asiwaju Bankole Akinloye, Ogun
Makinde, one of the two PDP governors in the South-West, had called for the removal of Ayu, ditto a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Bode George, argued that both Atiku and Ayu could not come from the same zone.
But this is yet to sit well with members of the G-5 group. Thus, while the Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has yet to decide between Atiku and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, stakeholders in the PDP were still yearning for Atiku.
