The Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum has disclosed why the five aggrieved governors under the aegis of Integrity Group didn’t show up at last week’s reception for returning and newly-elected governors of the party.
The event, which had in attendance former Vice President and presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, set tongues wagging with the absence of Nyesom Wike, Seyi Makinde, Samuel Ortom, Okezie Ikpeazu and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, governors of Rivers, Oyo, Benue, Abia and Enugu states, respectively.
The Wike-led G-5 PDP governors shun the event, which would have offered the leadership of the party an opportunity to broker peace between the aggrieved governors and Atiku.
It would be recalled that the five governors rejected all pleas by the various organs of the party to work with Atiku as they insisted on the resignation of Iyorchia Ayu, the then National Chairman of the party.
“We are welcoming three re-elected governors, namely, Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, and Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State.
“All outgoing PDP governors, Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State, Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Darius Dickson Ishaku of Taraba State, will also be honoured during the ceremony for all their services to the Forum,” the invitation extended to all governors of the party read in part.
However, the G-5 governors did not show up and were not represented at the event.
Speaking during an interview with Punch, the Director General of the PDP Governors’Forum, Cyril Maduabum, said the G-5 governors gave reasons for their absence.
He said the governors were absent from the parley due to other arrangements.
He said, “We invited all the governors and this was clear from the statement earlier issued. But let us not make an issue out of this.”
Asked why the Wike-led group failed to turn up, Maduabum said, “They (aggrieved governors) gave reasons for their absence. Most of these reasons include prior engagements and being out of the country at the time of the event.”
Although the absence of the five governors may have cost the forum an opportunity to bring them together with Atiku, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, said the party would continue to engage with its leaders including the aggrieved governors in line with the provisions of the PDP Constitution.
“I keep saying that the PDP has a way of resolving its internal affairs. We are talking with them but everything we do must be in line with the constitution of the party. Nobody is above the party and every leader must be subjected to the laws governing the running of the party,” Ologunagba said
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