From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, last Thursday met with the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike and his allies in London.
Wike’s men at the meeting were Governors Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State and Seyi Makinde of OyoState.
Atiku, a former vice president was accompanied to the meeting by the Adamawa State governor, Ahmadu Fintiri.
Ordinarily, the trip to London for the offshore meeting was not one Atiku would have embarked upon. But then, these are unusual times in the PDP, especially as the crisis rocking the opposition party was threatening the former vice president’s life-long presidential ambition.
Sunday Sun gathered that Atiku decided to embark on the London trip, after news filtered into the country that the Rivers governor and his men had met with the All Progressives Congress ( APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
As the PDP candidate was still waiting to meet with Wike and his men, another news filtered into the country that the aggrieved governors had also met with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, also in London.
Sunday Sun gathered that jolted by the development, Atiku knew that meeting with the Wike group was imperative to counter whatever mileage APC and Labour Party presidential candidates may have achieved with the Rivers governor and his men.
Recall that Wike and his supporters, comprising Ortom, Ikpeazu, Makinde and the Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and several former governors, as well as some serving and former National Assembly members had been on warpath with Atiku and the PDP since the emergence of Okowa as vice presidential candidate for the 2023 election.
Wike’s men had expressed misgivings over Okowa’s choice, noting that the Rivers governor, who came second in the PDP presidential primary ought to have been Atiku’s running mate. There have also been a war of words between the Rivers governor and Atiku’s supporters, including the former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido.
After a meeting in Abuja, the Wike group insisted that the National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu must be replaced with a Southerner so as to create a North/South balance in the sharing of positions in the PDP.
Ironically, on the outset of the PDP crisis, loyalists of the presidential candidate, it was gathered, had repeatedly argued that Atiku cannot go to Port Harcourt to meet with the Rivers governor. When eventually, the former vice president met with Wike, it was at the Abuja residence of former Minister of Information, Jerry Gana.
Informed party sources insisted that Atiku’s mission to London was induced by fear of the implications of the five governors and other aggrieved members of the party working against his presidential bid.
It would be recalled that prior to the London meetings, Wike had met with Peter Obi in Port Harcourt. The Rivers governor had also met with a team of APC governors comparising Governors Kayode Fayemi, Rotimi Akeredolu and Jide Sanwo-Olu of Ekiti, Ondo and Lagos states respectively.
Nevertheless, a top official in the office of the former vice president told Sunday Sun that it is not true that there is panic in Atiku’s camp as a result of the meetings between the Wike group and candidates of other political parties.
The official, who prefered to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak on the issue, said: “How will there be panic? This is absolutely no panic whatever. Individuals are free to meet on whatever may be their objective. It is very clear Nigeria knows where the country is now and the steps needed to be taken to save them from the current state of hopelessness created by the over seven years of the APC administration. So, there is no panic whatever in Atiku’s camp.”
Regardless, Sunday Sun gathered that the issue of the replacement of Ayu featured prominently at the parley between Atiku and the Wike’s group. According to a highly placed party source, Wike and his men insisted that there is no going back on its demand for the replacement of Ayu as national chairman as a condition for full reconciliation in the party.
Though Atiku is said not to have made any commitment to the group, supporters of the national chairman are already jittery, with the latter allegedly making frantic efforts to save his seat.
Nevertheless, a member of the House of Representatives, who supported Wike’s bid for the PDP ticket, said it is unlikely that the Rivers governor and his men would leave the opposition party.
The lawmaker said this is because they also need to deliver their supporters, who are contesting for various positions in the 2023 general elections.
He said: “Since Obasanjo has joined, it might be that something is cooking. But I don’t think Wike is going to leave PDP. I don’t see how he is going to do it. Even Ortom has a PDP ticket to come to the Senate. I think Ikpeazu has too. And Ugwuanyi. For Wike, all his candidates from governorship to national assembly to state assembly, they are all in PDP. So, how is he going to do it?
“I think they are just doing this thing to ‘pepper Atiku.’ I don’t see how he is going to do it. I would have been happy it was possible for that marriage to happen.
“But with Obasanjo involvement, let’s see what is going to happen. If they want to work with Obi to win the Presidency, how do you now teach people how to vote different parties in three ballots? That will be a hard sell.”
A PDP leader in the Atiku’s camp, who is apparently frustrated by the development in the opposition party, said that he does not understand what exactly the Rivers governor and his men want.
According to him, “the question is what do these people want? What does Wike want? Does he want to be the one, who people said, he has also said, that what when it matters most, he was there to ensure that the party did not crumble. He helped in building the party. Does he want to be remembered as the one when it was very necessary, he helped to destroy the party.
“What does he want in all of these? You know that Nigeria is at a crossroads as we speak. The question is who is prepared to rescue the country and to oust the APC? It is the PDP. And anybody who is a well-meaning member of the party should be working together with the candidate and all the other stakeholders to ensure they present a united front going to the election.
“All these rhetoric and meetings, they are totally unnecessary. If it is to attract attention to your grievances, it is going overboard. Whatever may be the grouses that you have, and continue to have relationship with the ruling party, what point are you trying to prove?”
However, Wike while addressing journalists, at the Port Harcourt Airport, shortly after their arrival from London, said that they actually met with the different presidential candidates as a team for the first time.
“Whatever we are talking about is for the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians. It is not parochial and tied to one person or group of persons. We believe that with what is going on, it will be for the interest of Nigerians at the end of the day.
“No amount of intimidation or blackmail will deter us. We are determined to right the wrong,” he stated.