Reports have emerged claiming that the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his team have concluded plans to infiltrate and break the ranks of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
Naija News reports that Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, who leads a group in the PDP, has called on the National Chairman of the main opposition party to resign.
Wike, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, and Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State had last week Wednesday pulled out of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Council until their demands are met.
Other members of the group are former PDP deputy national chairman, Olabode George, Donald Duke, Ayo Fayose, Ibrahim Dankwambo, Mimiko, and Senator Jonah Jang, amongst others.
However, Ayu has maintained that he would not resign, with Atiku Abubakar insisting that he cannot force Ayu to quit his position, except through constitutional means.
According to Vanguard, Atiku and some PDP leaders have started reaching out to Wike’s allies with a view to prevailing on them drop their grievances and work for the success of the PDP in 2023.
A source said: “There is general thinking in the party that Wike has nothing to lose and his so-called allies have something to lose, while some of them have nothing at stake.
“There is a thinking in the party that those who have something at stake can be cultivated.
“And you know, this is a delicate thing, delicate in the sense that those individuals do not want to turn against Wike in a dramatic way. They know he can say things about them.”
Another source revealed that the PDP presidential candidate has activated a process to reach out to aggrieved leaders of the party.
The source said: “There are some internal processes that have been activated to ensure that those people (Wike’s allies) are properly aligned with the dictates of the party which is to ensure that the party wins in 2023, which in fairness to those people, they are not averse to except for Wike. We don’t even know what he’s up to and those who say they are with him (Wike) don’t know what he is up to.”
An ally of Atiku stated that the presidential candidate of the PDP and other party leaders would not do anything that is unconstitutional in a bid to remove the embattled Ayu.
“Atiku and leaders of the PDP will never do anything unconstitutional because of Wike because Nigerians are watching. He will keep pushing and even after getting what he wants, he will ask for something else. We know his game,” he told Vanguard.
“There must be a stop to this and that is why we want to move on with his people.
“Those insisting that Ayu must resign are overlooking the constitution which states that his replacement must come from the North. They say it doesn’t matter. But the ripple effect would be too damning because you cannot then insist that the replacement from the North should resign, and then it will affect the national secretary, and down the line.”
Another source said that some of those with Wike was already looking at how they can avoid “becoming collateral victims of somebody else’s war.”
This article was originally published on Naija News
