One of the disgruntled governors, known as the G-5, who are backing Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, may soon abandon the group, causing a major setback, according to WITHIN NIGERIA.
Recall that Governor Wike, along with Governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, and Samuel Ortom of Benue, are collectively referred to as the PDP’s G5 governors.
The disgruntled governors claimed that the PDP’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, promised to resign if a northerner was chosen as the party’s presidential candidate.
They demanded Ayu’s resignation as a condition for supporting Atiku in 2023.
Following the visit of the Abia PDP delegation to Atiku in Abuja on Thursday, new reports indicate that Governor Ikpeazu may become the first of the aggrieved southern governors to abandon the G-5.
The delegation was led by the PDP’s Abia governorship candidate, Professor Eleazar Uche Ikonne, whom the governor endorsed to succeed him in the party’s governorship primary.
Ikpeazu Courts Atiku in the Shadow of Colleagues
According to sources close to Ikpeazu quoted by The Whistler, the Abia Governor reassessed his membership in the G-5 due to his senatorial bid, concluding that continuing may cost him the ticket.
While Ikpeazu has not formally announced his withdrawal from the G-5, a close aide revealed that it has become difficult to determine the governor’s loyalty because he (Ikpeazu) associates with the G-5 in public but allegedly works against the group’s interests by indirectly courting Atiku behind his colleagues.
The source went on to say that Wike will lose nothing because he is not running for office in 2023, but the same cannot be said for Ikpeazu, who needs all the help he can get to win the Abia South senatorial election.
The presidential and national assembly elections in 2023 will be held on the same day (February 25), according to the source, and the Abia governor does not want a situation in which working against the PDP presidential candidate will affect his senatorial election because voters supporting the PDP will be forced to choose between different parties at the polls.