Wike dares PDP to expel G5 group of governors saying it will have dire consequences

GOVERNOR Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has warned Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders thinking of expelling the G5 governors otherwise known as the Integrity Group  from their ranks to perish the thought as such an act would have dire consequences.

In late June, the PDP elected  former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as its flagbearer for next year's presidential election at its Abuja convention. Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State was a candidate in that election but he was beaten into second place and to make matters worse for him, he was not then picked as the party's running mate.

With Alhaji Abubakar opting to pick Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as his running mate, Governor Wike and his supporters, made up primarily of four other governors, have  been on the war path. Governors Wike, Seyi Makinde  (Oyo), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) now make up what is now known as the G5 Group of Governors and have boycotted Atiku's campaign.

One of the key demands of the G5 has been that PDP chairman Senator Iyorchia Ayu stands down, as he, like Alhaji Abubakar is from northern Nigeria and for the sake of unity, it was argued that a southerner should replace him. Despite several meetings between the Atiku and Wike camps to resolve the impasse, the matter has not been sorted out and Senator Ayu remains in office.

Now that the two sides have been unable to reach an agreement and the G5 is poised to support other candidates, the threat of them being expelled from the PDP looms. However, Governor Wike said nobody in the party could drive the members of the Integrity Group out of the house they spent many years building.

Governor Wike said: “Nobody can drive us from this house we have built. All of us will fight here. So, if anybody thinks that you can just sit in your house and dish out orders, it will not work."

Also, the governor clarified that his comment on the endorsement of Peter Obi by former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, instead of Alhaji Abubakar, was motivated by his concern for the PDP. He said Chief Obasanjo had served as president on the platform of the PDP with Alhaji Abubakar as his vice president for eight years and was in a better position to solicit support from Nigerians on his behalf with confidence.

He said if Obasanjo could not endorse his former deputy, it only showed that something was fundamentally wrong that should elicit concern from members of the PDP. Governor Wike  insisted that for Chief Obasanjo to have gone ahead to endorse Governor Obi instead of his former deputy meant that something must be fundamentally wrong.

Governor Wike said: “I meant no bad. I’m only worried as a prominent PDP member. A man who loves PDP should be worried. I was not mocking anybody. I was merely worried.  My prayer was, look, let Obasanjo remain quiet and not say anything.

"That was all my prayer but my prayer didn’t work. My prayer was that if this man makes any statement, it will indict us because he was president under the PDP for eight years and he worked with our presidential candidate."