With a few days to the kick-off of the September 28, 2022 election campaign for the 2023 General Elections set by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), members of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike’s camp in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have officially announced their withdrawal from participating in the presidential campaign of the party.
The group, rising from a meeting in the early hours of Wednesday, insisted that the PDP National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu must step down as the chairman of the party if Wike’s group must partake in the Presidential campaign activities of the party.
Members of the group said none of them would participate in the campaign council unless the Ayu resigns for a southern candidate.
Those present at this defining gathering which took place at Wike’s residence in Port Harcourt include Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State; former Governors Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo, Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, Donald Duke of Cross River, Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe and Jonah Jang of Plateau, former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke.
Others at the meeting 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, among several others.
It would be recalled that the embattled chairman on September 14 announced a two-week trip to a European country amid wike’s insistence on stepping down as National Chairman.
The New Diplomat reports that on September 8, the party’s National Executive Council, NEC, passed a vote-of-confidence in Senator Ayu, this comes after the Board of Trustees, BoT, Chairman, Walid Jibrin stepped down at the National Executive Council meeting held in Abuja.
Wike, while reacting to the development mocked the former National Chairman, Uche Secondus, for celebrating the vote of confidence passed on his successor, noting that no amount of confidence vote would save Ayu from being ousted from the position.
