Spokesman of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign council cum former Kogi Senator, Dino Melaye has said some aggrieved governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) now known as the G5 will work for the party in the 2023 presidential election.
Melaye asserted during an interview on Channels Television.
The PDP has been enmeshed in crisis following the refusal of the national chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu to resign as demanded by the G5 governors led by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
Wike and his allies argue that the presidential candidate of the party and the national chairman can not come from the same region.
Atiku hails from Adamawa – North East while Ayu comes from Benue – North Central.
Several efforts by stakeholders to make the Rivers governor and his allies drop their demand for the resignation of Ayu have proved abortive.
A few days ago, Wike boasted that nobody can break the ranks of the G5 governors or cause division among them.
He also added that the five PDP governors are bonded to save the country.
The G5 governors are Wike, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Samuel Ortom, Okezie Ikpeazu, and Seyi Makinde of Rivers, Enugu, Benue, Abia, and Oyo states respectively.
Melaye while speaking on the crisis rocking the party, said PDP governors, including Wike’s allies, worked towards Ayu becoming the national chairman of the party.
He also said it is not correct and insincere to involve Atiku in the call for Ayu’s resignation.
“What is the role of Atiku Abubakar in Ayu leaving or not? To start with, the governors brought in Ayu without the consent or approval of Atiku,” the Atiku presidential campaign spokesman said.
“Ayu is a creation of the governors. Governor Wike was responsible for the coming of Ayu while Governor Ortom was the guarantor.
“Ayu is their product. That is why there was no competition. That is why Ayu was the sole candidate. By the time Ayu was coming, were they thinking that Ayu is from Abia, Enugu, or Ogbomoso?
“Ayu is not Atiku’s son that he will say ‘go and sit down.’ For you to ask Atiku to take a panadol for another person’s headache shows the insincerity of purpose, heart, and commitment.
“Above all, by the grace of God, at the end of the day, we may not get everybody together, we can not get everybody together, but I want to tell you that some of these governors are still going to work for their party.
“Even one of the governors — governor of Abia — when he was talking in Makurdi, yesterday, said that they support PDP from top to bottom. He did not segregate, meaning that he is ready to work for the party.
“If you see in Benue rally yesterday, Gabriel Suswam, the immediate past governor of Benue state, before Governor Wike and the other governors, before Ortom, he made it categorically that they are going to support Atiku and the party from head to toe.
“You also saw Senator Abba Moro, who is representing zone C of Benue State that Ayu is their son and they will not disgrace him.”
