There appears to be 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 supporting any other candidate outside of Atiku Abubakar.
This dilemma and apparent despondency was due 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 suspicion that Makinde is in a deal with the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate , Bola Tinubu, for 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 Peretei, Ondo; Hon. Raphael ‘Wumi Adeyanju, Ekiti and Asiwaju Bankole Akinloye, Ogun.
By this, it is further believed that Makinde might as well be on his own, as the party’s spokespersons might have stated the position of the party in the Southwest.
It was gathered that the party had been polarised following call in some quarters for the resignation of Ayu.
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, who argued that both Atiku and Ayu could not come from the same zone.
