UPDATED]: 2023: Reconciliation Not In Sight, As Wike Supporters Fume
Apparently still angered by the lack of meaningful initiative at reconciliation from the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, the governor of Rivers State on Sunday, met with governors backing him to consider the way forward as the 2023 presidential elections inch closer.
The closed-door meeting, which was held in Rivers State Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja, was attended by state governors known to be his major backers including Sam Ortom (Benue), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia).
Also in the meeting were former state governors including Donald Duke (Cross River), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Ibrahim Idris (Kogi) and Jonah Jang (Plateau).
Others include former PDP Deputy National Vice Chairman North, Senator Suleiman Nazif; former Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Adoke; member of the House of Representatives from Kogi State, Tijjani Yusuf, among others.
There were also various coordinators of his presidential campaign led by former Information minister Jerry Gana.
Even though the agenda of the meeting was not publicly revealed, the Nigerian Tribune gathered that it was a fallout of the vice-presidential selection process in which Atiku snubbed Wike despite being recommended by the committee set up for the purpose.
The group is miffed that despite humiliating the Rivers governor, the PDP presidential candidate had yet to reach out to him to placate him as being pushed by Governor Ortom.
Gana, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees and North Central Coordinator of the Wike Presidential campaign, spoke briefly to reporters after the meeting saying: “This is the first meeting we are holding with all our candidates in the states after the primaries. We are united and are one.
“We know that developments will unfold and when they do, we shall brief Nigerians”.
It would be recall that The Story, had earlier reported that there are indications that the Rivers State governor and other Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) governors led by Nyesom Wike may have sheath their sword to work for the party and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar come 2023.
