2023 Presidency: Crisis Rocks PDP As Party Leaders Lambast Wike Over Utterances, Actions
There are all indications that all is no well with the major opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of its presidential primaries.
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The Punch reports that plans by governors on the platform of the PDP to ensure that one of them emerges as the party’s presidential candidate may have suffered a setback.
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Legit.ng gathered that the new development was due to the unfriendly utterances by the Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state against some of his colleagues, party chieftains and presidential aspirants in the party.
According to the newspaper, members of the PDP Governors’ Forum held a secret meeting in Ghana in 2021, where they sought to agree on the most suitable zoning formula for the party.
It was gathered that the majority of the southern governors at the meeting were said to have made a strong case for the ticket to be zoned to the south, but the suggestion was said to have been vehemently rejected by the governors of Sokoto and Bauchi states, Aminu Tambuwal and Bala Mohammed, both of whom have since declared their interest to contest the presidential primary.
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Governor Wike berates Atiku, Saraki for dumping PDP in 2014
Governor Wike had tongue-lashed some notable leaders of the party including governors and those he indirectly attacked while declaring his intention to run included Atiku, Saraki and Tambuwal, all of whom are also in the race for the party’s ticket.
He accused them of defecting from the party to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which led to the defeat of the PDP in 2015.
Wike said those who once left the party should no longer consider themselves as founding fathers of the PDP, adding that they had lost their seniority for defecting.
The governor stated:
“If you form a company and run away because the company is not doing well, then you find that it is now doing well, will you want to come and take over?
“In 2015, those who ran away made us lose the election. Today, they are crying but some of us stood and said the PDP would not die. By the time you ran away, you sold your shares as founding fathers, so you can no longer retain your position as founding fathers.
“I stood for this party. I have worked for this party since 1998. I have nowhere to run to and that is why anything that happens to this party, I take it personally. I have never relented.”
It was also noted that close to some of the governors and leaders of the party said most of them were working behind the scene to make sure that Wike would not win the primary.
The source said:
“The conspiracy won’t be limited to him. The governors may not even produce the presidential candidate of the party, because there is now a division among them with Wike’s utterances.
“Those he abused had visited him and they spoke, but nobody should be deceived. Politicians are fond of doing that. Their smiles or laughter when they are together are not always genuine; those are just for the camera. They know what they will do."
Dino Melaye berates Fayose, says presidency not Ponmo and Amala
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that Senator Dino Melaye berated a former governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose, over his comments concerning a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, and former Senate president, Bukola Saraki.
It was reported Fayose had taken a swipe at Atiku and Saraki who are both presidential aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while speaking on national television.
Fayose, also a PDP presidential aspirant, insisted that the party must adhere to zoning while accusing the duo of insincerity in the pursuit of their presidential ambition.
Source: Legit.ng
