The crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seems to have worsened as the camp of Nyesom Wike officially announced its withdrawal from participating in the presidential campaign of the party for the 2023 elections.
This decision appears to be a fallout of the non-resolution of the group’s grievances with the party leadership and the presidential candidate of the party, which centred primarily on the resignation of the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu.
The PDP recently announced its presidential campaign team for the 2023 general election with some members of Governor Wike’s camp appointed as leaders and members of the campaign council for the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The position of the group was made known after a long meeting which started at about 7pm last night and ended by past 2am this morning at the private residence of Wike in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Members of the group insisted that none of them will participate in whatever capacity in the campaign council unless the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, steps down for a southern candidate.
Those present at the meeting
According to reports, the leaders of the party that were part of the all-important meeting at Wike’s residence in Port Harcourt include Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State; former Governors Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo, Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, Donald Duke of Cross River, Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe and Jonah Jang of Plateau, former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke.
Others at the meeting are elder statesmen, Olabode George, Jerry Gana; South-South Chairman of the PDP, Dan Orbih; former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chibudom Nwuche; Senator Suleiman Nazif, Nnenna Ukeje, among several others.
A former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Olabode George was reported to have briefed journalists of the resolution of the group after the over 7 hours meeting.
What you should know
- The decision of the Rivers governor’s camp comes some days to September 28, the official date to the commencement of campaigns for the 2023 general election as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
- The supporters of Governor Wike had maintained that the resignation of Dr Iyorchia Ayu is the irreducible minimum condition for reconciliation in the faceoff between them and the leadership of the party, insisting that the Chairman of the party must come to the southern part of the country since the presidential candidate is from the north.
- However, some party leaders including the Atiku presidential campaign have opposed the idea of Ayu stepping down at this stage of the campaign, saying that the sacking of the National Chairman of the party would create constitutional crisis for the party, which would snowball into greater problems than what the party was currently faced with.
