The Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party led by ex-Senate President Adolphus Wabara is expected to meet today with governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
According to Channels Television report, the emergency meeting convened by the Wabara-led BoT is part of efforts by the main opposition party to pacify Wike and some aggrieved southern governors in the party.
The BoT delegation also aims to convince Wike and his allies to support the 2023 presidential ambition of the party’s flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar, as campaigns for next February’s polls officially commence.
Wike and some PDP governors including Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Seyi Makinde, (Oyo), and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) have for weeks mounted pressure on the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to step down for a southerner.
Earlier, the PDP BoT members on Sunday met with Atiku and his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.
Wike and his allies had on September 20 announced their withdrawal from Atiku’s presidential campaign council.
They were also absent from the inauguration of Atiku’s campaign council on September 28, 2022, as they argued that northerners should not occupy the two top positions of the party.
Others in Wike’s camp include former Governors Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo, Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, Donald Duke of Cross River, Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe, and Jonah Jang of Plateau.
Others 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.
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