November 11, (THEWILL) – A delegation of members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State, has met with the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The delegation, led by the party’s governorship candidate for the 2023 elections, Professor Eleazar Uche Ikonne, was received by the former Vice President at his residence in Abuja on Thursday.
During the visit, Professor Ikonne assured Atiku of the full support of Abia PDP for his presidential bid.
“Abia is PDP and there’s no concern about it. We are PDP and we are very faithful party members”, he said.
Abia state governor Okezie Ikpeazu endorsed Professor Ikonne to succeed him at the party’s governorship primary in May.
THEWILL recalls that the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, together with governors Ikpeazu, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, Seyi Makinde of Oyo and Samuel Ortom of Benue, generally referred to as the G5 governors of the PDP, have withheld support from Atiku until their demand for the resignation of the party’s chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, is met.
Apart from accusing Ayu of corruption, the G5 governors from the southern part of the country have contended that it betrays equity for the party’s presidential candidate and the national chairman to come from the same region (North).
The governors have also ensured that PDP candidates for the 2023 elections in their State cut ties with the national leadership and the presidential candidate.
But the visit of Professor Ikonne to Atiku may signal indications of division in the G5.
Recall that at the visit of the G5 to their Bauchi counterpart, Bala Mohammed, on Wednesday, Oyo state governor, Seyi Makinde was conspicuously absent.
Only Wike, Ikpeazu, Ugwuanyi and Ortom were on the so-called “solidarity visit” to Governor Bala Mohammed.
A source close to the allies, who confirmed the seeming division in the group, said some of the members have assessed the situation that continuing with Wike might cause them their electoral victory in the 2023 elections.
According to the source, while Ortom and Ikpeazu are contesting in the Senatorial election, Makinde is seeking re-election for the Oyo governorship seat under the ticket of the party. Only governor Wike, leader of the group, is not running for election next year.
Although Ikpeazu has yet to formally announce his withdrawal from the G5, a close aide said it has become difficult to tell where the governor’s loyalty lies because he (Ikpeazu) associates with the G5 in public, but allegedly works against the group’s interest by indirectly courting Atiku behind his colleagues.
Ikpeazu, according to the source, believes that unlike him who needs every support possible to win the Abia South senatorial election, Governor Wike is not running for any office in 2023 and will lose nothing if the G5 governors’ outing leads to an unfavourable end.
The 2023 presidential and national assembly elections will be held on the same day (February 25) and our source said the Abia governor would not want a situation where working against the PDP presidential candidate will affect his senatorial election as voters supporting the PDP would be faced with choosing different parties at the polls.
