Okezie Ikpeazu, Governor of Abia State, has provided more insight into why the disgruntled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors, popularly known as the G5 Governors, are refusing to support the party’s presidential ambitions in 2023.
The Governor stated that their demand is not limited to the resignation of the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, or the 2023 election.
The G5 Governors, comprised of Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), and Ikpeazu, have demanded Ayu’s resignation as a condition for supporting the PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in 2023.
They insisted that Ayu promised to resign if a northerner was elected as the party’s presidential candidate in 2023.
Ayu, for his part, has refused to step down, resulting in a protracted internal crisis within the PDP, jeopardizing the party’s ambition to dethrone the All Progressives Congress (APC) in next year’s election.
However, in an interview at the Government House Lodge in Aba, Ikpeazu stated that their (G5) demand is about establishing fairness, justice, and inclusiveness in the PDP and Nigeria as a whole, not just Ayu and 2023.
He believes that there is a need to ensure political harmony in order to achieve national growth and development.
He said:
There are issues of integrity, keeping promises, making sure that if we say ‘after me, it’s you’, when that time comes, it happens.
It will stabilize us as a country and engender social mobilization sufficient to tackle our security problems, tackle the economic problems, and tackle other problems that confront us in this country.
It Is Beyond 2023
The Abia Governor emphasized that their demand is beyond the 2023 election as they seek to put a system that projects mutual respect among all persons and regions in the country.
G-5 speaks to a new paradigm. It is beyond 2023. It speaks about a new paradigm.
In 2027, I will still want a system that will include everybody irrespective of what the outcome of the 2023 elections may be.
We are saying we want a strong North that respects the South, just as we want a strong South that has respect for the North.
That way, our full capacities can be deployed to solve our problems, Ikpeazu said.