PDP Crisis: Crack Widens in Wike’s Camp as Guber Candidate, Others Split on Atiku’s Calabar Rally

• It's just 12 days to the 2023 presidential election, and Nigeria's main opposition party has not put its house in order
• While the leadership of the party is yet to fix the internal crisis rocking the PDP, there seems to be a crack in the camp of Governor Nyesom Wike's camp
• Reports indicate that at the Calabar PDP rally held on Monday, February 13, the state governorship candidate and others took sides as Atiku Abubakar canvassed for votes in Cross Rivers state

Cracks have occurred in camp of the Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike in Cross River, a few weeks before the 2023 presidential election.

According to a report by The Guardian newspaper, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Senator Sandy Onor, shunned the party’s presidential flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar’s rally in Calabar, while the state Chairman, Venatius Ikem, Cross River South senatorial candidate, Ntufam Ekpo Okon, and others attended.

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Crack in Wike's camp as Cheiftains split, takes sides

Hitherto, Onor, Ikem, Okon, former governor of the state, Mr Donald Duke, House of Representatives member for Calabar Municipality/Odukpani Constituency, Ntufam Eta Mbora, former Deputy Governor of the state, Mr Efiok Cobham and others were in the same camp with Wike and never identified with the Atiku camp in the state, led by former Governor Liyel Imoke and the senator representing Cross River South Senatorial, Gershom Bassey.

The party secretariat on Mary Slessor Avenue does not have Atiku’s posters.

But at the Atiku presidential rally, on Monday, at the U. J. Esuene Stadium, Ntufam Okon, Mbora, and Ikem were present while Onor, former Governor, Duke, former Deputy Governor, Cobham, and a few others were absent.

Atiku's campaign team cancels Rivers rally

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the Rivers state chapter of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PDP PCC) announced the cancellation of the rally of its candidate, Abubakar, in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

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2023 Elections: PDP Cancels Atiku’s Planned Rally in Wike’s State, Gives Strong Reason

The presidential campaign slated for early this week would no longer hold, the PDP PCC Chairman in Rivers state, Senator Lee Maeba disclosed, citing insecurity as the major reason for the cancellation.

"The expected victory of Atiku Abubakar does not worth the blood of any Rivers man or woman," Senator Maeba said.

2023 elections: G5 Governors secretly endorsed Atiku? Ortom reacts

In another related development, the claim that the G5 Governors have endorsed and agreed to support Atiku has been dismissed.

Samuel Ortom, the governor of Benue state, in a statement by his special adviser on media and publicity, Terver Akase, dismissed the claim on Tuesday, January 10.

Akase described the report as fictitious, and mischievous and that it is targeted to embarrass the governors who have chosen the art of justice, fairness and equity.

Source: Legit.ng