PDP crisis deepens as Wike group pulls out of Atiku campaign council

By Marvellous Gbadegesin On Sep 21, 2022

Nyesom Wike, Rivers State, Peter Obi ,Igbo presidency , — Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) crisis deepened on Wednesday as Governor Nyesom Wike’s team reportedly pulled out of the campaign Council of the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

The members of the party sympathetic to Wike insisted that there would be no deal with Atiku until Ayu vacated his office to allow an acting Chairman from the South lead the campaign of Atiku.

This was contained in a communique issued to journalists by Wike’s camp at the end of its more than seven hours meeting at the governor’s private residence in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.

In a communique read by the former Ogun State military governor and one of the party’s founding fathers, Bode George, the group insisted that the PDP national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, must resign to pave the way for an acting National Chairman of Southern Nigeria extraction.

They accused Ayu of compromise, especially in his role during the conduct of the party’s primary, where Wike lost to Atiku.

The PDP members pointed out that their support for Wike is not because he lost the presidential primary or that he was not picked as the vice presidential candidate of the party but because of their stance for equity and justice in the PDP.

Those in the meeting included Oyo State, governor Seyi Makinde, former Governors Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo, Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, Donald Duke of Cross River, Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe and Jonah Jang of Plateau, former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke.

Others were Jerry Gana, the South-South PDP Chairman, Dan Orbih, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chibudom Nwuche, Suleiman Nazif, Nnenna Ukeje, among several others.

The latest development maybe another setback for the PDP as it prepares for the 2023 general elections.

Political observers have warned that the party might just be the architect of its defeat if it fails to put its house together before the 2023 presidential election.