- ‘We’ll Regain Power In 2027,’ Makinde Vows
By Abiola Olawale
In a surprising development, Governor Alex Otti of Abia State attended an event of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday, June 1, 2024.
Otti, who was elected as Governor on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), stormed the venue of the 76th birthday celebration and grand reception for former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara.
The governor arrived at the event while the acting National Chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagun, was making his speech. The PDP governors of Enugu, Peter Mbah; Bauchi, Bala Mohammed; Edo, Godwin Obaseki; and Oyo, Seyi Makinde, were also present.
Otti’s entrance threw the large crowd into a frenzy, as some PDP members started singing his praises while others expressed surprise at his presence.
However, Otti’s predecessor, former Governor of Okezie Ikpeazu, was absent at the event.
The New Diplomat recalls that ahead of the 2023 General Election, Dr Ikpeazu and four other PDP Governors broke ranks with the mainstream, refusing to support the party’s presidential candidate and former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Though the group of five governors (G5), led by former Rivers State Governor, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, did not defect to any other political party, their none support reportedly contributed to the PDP loss of the presidency, and many Government and Legislative Houses at the national and state levels across the country.
Notably during the presidential election, Wike and Governor Seyi Makinde’s support for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu made it possible for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to win Rivers and Oyo States.
This contributed to the APC winning the election, and the emergence of Tinubu, a former Governor of Lagos State as President of Nigeria on May 29, 2023.
In his address at the ceremony, Dr Otti said he is the governor of all Abia people irrespective of party affiliation, as, according to him, elections and litigation have been concluded.
The governor added that he had made up his mind to attend the event even uninvited before he eventually got the invite.
Otti explained that the era of politics was over and that, as the governor of the Abia, he should not discriminate against anybody because of party affiliations.
He said: “Our government is a government without discrimination. After the election, governance starts. I’m the governor of all Abians.
“For the first time in the history of Abia State, an Edo man is a Permanent Secretary. So, I convinced myself to be here even without an invitation. Every Abian, whether PPD, Labour, or any party, is first an Abian.”
Also, speaking on behalf of the governors, the chairman of the occasion and Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, said he was very optimistic that the PDP would return to power at the centre in 2027.
Makinde vowed to Nigerians that PDP would regain power in 2027 and give the citizens good governance.
The New Diplomat reports that PDP held power at the centre from 1999, when Nigeria returned to democratic governance, to 2015 when the party was dislodged by the newly-formed opposition APC, which produced retired Gen. Mohammadu Buhari as the first President on the party platform.
Buhari was succeeded in 2023 by incumbent President Tinubu.
