The five aggrieved People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governors’ loyalists and the camp of the PDP Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, quarreled over moves by the governors to endorse their preferred presidential candidate in January.
The governors had vowed not to campaign for Atiku, hinting that they would reveal the presidential candidate they would support, few weeks to the February 25 presidential poll but the Atiku Campaign Council warned that dumping the PDP standard bearer would mark the end of their political careers.
Governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Okezie Ikpeazu of AbiaS Tate, Samuel Ortom of Benue State and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State and some political heavyweights from the South are at loggerheads with Atiku following the refusal of the PDP National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, to resign on account of the lopsided leadership of the party.
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Though Atiku and the governors held several meetings in Nigeria and London, United Kingdom, Ayu’s refusal to vacate office as demanded by the governors had frustrated the reconciliation moves.
Governor Wike had consistently maintained that in several meetings with Atiku after the party convention, the latter promised to prevail on Ayu to quit; a claim that had been denied by Atiku and his spokespersons.
The governors, who subsequently pulled out of Atiku’s campaign council, have inaugurated their state campaign councils without a word of support for Atiku.
Barring any twist, it gathered that the governors would in the days ahead begin campaigns against the PDP presidential candidate in their respective states.
It was gathered that issues of trust and loyalty to the party would feature prominently in their campaign against Atiku.
Last week, Governor Wike, the arrowhead of the move against Atiku, told the Rivers State chapter of the PDP to await his January directive on the presidential candidate to vote; a remark that elicited a sharp rebuke from his once trusted ally and immediate past National Chairman of the Party, Prince Uche Secondus.
Wike, it was gathered, is disposed to supporting the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
An unconfirmed report suggests that the tough-talking governor was not sure of the ability of the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, to garner sufficient votes across the country.
Sources said the River State governor and his colleagues planned to brand Atiku as a serial defector who cannot be trusted with power by the electorate.
An associate of the Benue State governor, who does not want his name in print, said the five governors “have agreed among themselves to support a presidential candidate from the South.’’
“Governor Ortom is clear about it that it is not right to have another President of Fulani extraction after eight years of a Fulani President. His argument is that when Olusegun Obasanjo was leaving office in 2007, he was against Peter Odili succeeding him because it would have been against the spirit of fairness. That is why he picked and campaigned for Umaru Yar’Adua,’’ the source stated.
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According to him, the position of Governor Ortom is that “it is unhealthy to have not just another Northerner but another Fulani man take over from another Fulani man.
‘’From the get-go, he was in the forefront of the move for a Southerner to take over power in 2023. This is the position of the five governors. Some may be working for other candidates and I understand that Nyesom Wike is working with Tinubu.”
Confirming this development, the immediate past Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Diran Odeyemi said Makinde may have a soft spot for Obi but expressed doubts that he would ever make his stand public.
“A lot of political games are going on. In Oyo State, the deputy governor, Bayo Lawal, has been attending events of the Atiku campaign organisation even though his boss is a member of G-5.
“Seyi (Makinde) is not ready to lose his re-election bid and is therefore keeping his choice close to his chest. He may have instructed his foot soldiers on what to do but he would be wise enough to go with the crowd in the end.
‘’Nothing can be ruled out for now and if he thinks working with Atiku can help his cause, he will go for it. Wherever the pendulum swings, he will take the glory,” he said.
All things considered, Odeyemi noted that Atiku had a mountain to climb should the five governors forge a common front against him in the election.
“There is no doubt that he is a popular candidate but if these governors unite against him, it is going to be a difficult election for him. This is why we are appealing that the party goes into the election as one united family,” he added.
But the spokesman for the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Dino Melaye warned the governors about the fate that would await them should they dump Atiku for an opposition candidate.
Their political careers, he predicted, would come to an end should they ditch the candidate of their party.
He stated, “No blackmail, hate, or outrageous envy will stop Atiku. I pray it is not true (G-5 governors’ imminent endorsement of their preferred candidate).
“Attacking Atiku will cost them their political future. You don’t fight a man who has done nothing to provoke you. Atiku’s only offence is that he won a presidential primary transparently and openly. No man should play God.’’
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Sounding confident about the PDP standard bearer’s electoral chances, the former lawmaker said, “It is too late to stop Atiku. They should have a re-think while they can. Atiku will be president because the people have decided.
‘’My advice to the G-5 is ‘don’t end your political career because of an inordinate ambition and capricious manifestation that will yield no result.’ If they take that step, it will be the last kick of a dying horse.”
Another spokesman of the PDP Campaign Council, Daniel Bwala noted that the 12 million Northern votes the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), often garnered at every election he participated in, are now in the bag for Atiku in 2023.
“If you don’t know, Atiku has inherited the 12m votes of Buhari already. When you add his 8m plus the 12m, Atiku is already coming to the election with 20m votes,” he claimed.
He also enumerated several reasons the election is Atiku’s to lose.
