Since the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) erupted after the presidential primary, the governors of Benue, Oyo, Abia and Enugu States have queued behind the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, as he battles to remove the party’s National Chairman, Senator Iyorcha Ayu.
While other PDP governors have distanced themselves from the brawl, the five governors, Samuel Ortom (Benue), Seyi Mankinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Wike (Rivers), which have formed a united front, have been junketing round Europe, holding series of meetings on how to achieve their aims.
Except the five governors, no one can actually point to what they stand to gain in the prolong war that is almost destroying the chances of PDP in the 2023 election. However, there have been several reports that even though they would not leave the PDP, their agenda is to act the spoiler in the forthcoming presidential election.
If this narrative is true, the chances of the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar winning the 2023 election are slim, which by extension may also affect the chances of the five governors, who have a stake to protect in the forthcoming elections under the PDP platform.
While Wike has a governorship candidate, he is plans to handover to, Makinde is going for a second term, while Ikpeazu, Ortom and Ugwuanyi are gunning for the Senate.
Some political watchers have, however, said, that their push, either way, may likely have severe consequences on their ambitions, because a house divided against itself cannot stand.
The political analysts were of the opinion that in a bid to fight to the end, as a way of expressing their anger against the party leadership, they may end up also jeopardizing their ambitions
Recall that for the past weeks, since Wike was defeated at the presidential primary and the push for him to emerge as the running mate of Atiku Abubakar was also defeated, the crisis in PDP, which pitched the governors against the party, has snowballed into a full blown battle.
The action of the National Chairman of the party escalated the crisis when he decided to take side against the norm of a leader, who was supposed to play the role of a father to all, both winners and losers in the primary.
Instead of reaching out to both winners and losers, Ayu decided to reach out to the winners alone and also described the governor of Sokoto state, Aminu Tambuwal, who was alleged to have played the role of a spoiler as a “hero”.
The position of Ayu didn’t go down well with some stakeholders of the party and couple with his reported commitment that he will leave the scene when a Northern presidential candidate emerged. These developments have however, prompted the calls for his resignation.
Even though the political environment in PDP has been tensed since after the primary, it took another dimension last Wednesday, when Ayu, in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa service, described those calling for his resignation as children, adding that he has no plan to resign as the chairman of the party.
Taking a swipe at Wike and others calling for his resignation, Ayu had said that they were children when the party was started in 1999.
According to him, “When we started the PDP, all those ones were children, they were not there. We will not allow one person to become a spoiler. This is our country. So, all that is expected of us is to fix the country and provide security and dividends of democracy when we take over power in 2023.
“All that he is doing does not affect me because I know I am fixing the party, I am doing my work diligently, I have not committed any offence, I have not stolen any money, so there is no reason for my resignation.”
He added that, “I stood for election and I won the election and I am fixing the party, I have not stolen anything, I have not committed any offence, we will not allow one person to come and spoil the party for us with frivolous calls and conditions.
“I was elected as PDP National Chairman for a four-year term and I have not spent up to one year, so the call for my resignation is uncalled for.”
Wike, who didn’t take Ayu’s comment lightly, had said that the people he referred to as children are the ones, who brought him from “the gutter and made him the National Chairman of the party.”
Describing Ayu as an ungrateful person, Wike disclosed that because of the money made from the party primaries, Ayu had refused to resign.
Berating Ayu, Wike had said, “You can imagine what power can do. See ingratitude and how ungrateful people can be.
“As Chairman of a party who wants to win an election your business is to bring peace to the party and not to divide the party. Your business is not to show arrogance to your party.
“But Ayu said we are children, yet the children brought you to the party. The Children brought you from the gutter to make you National Chairman of the PDP.
“These boys that brought you from nothing, from nothing we brought Ayu. You said you founded this party, but you left the party in 2007. You founded a company, you left the company. People stood and made the company what it is today. You left with your shares, so you have no moral right.
“You want to show integrity. You want to sell a party to Nigeria that we want to take over. You must convince Nigerians that we have integrity. You are the driver that will drive the vehicle that will convey us to the destination, that is the victory we’re looking for. So, if the driver has no integrity, honesty, how do you convince Nigerian.”
Referring to Ayu’s commitment that he will leave when a Northern candidate emerged, Wike said, “You said, when so so thing happens, I will do so so. What you said had happened, so as a man of honour, as a man of integrity, do what you said. If you cannot do it, is it when you enter into power?
“Ayu, you were sleeping in your house. You were calling me per minutes, per minutes thanking me. So now, you said am a boy, Seyi Makinde is a boy, Ortom your brother, who signed on your behalf is a boy. Enugu is a boy, and Abia is a boy. Just because you are Chairman all of us are now boys.
“Now Nigerians have seen how ungrateful some of you can be. So, they are asking if we give these people power, will they be grateful?
“You think you are too smart? You think you can use us? No problem, Nigerians are watching. We are not afraid of fight, when fight come we will fight and we will win.
“Because of money we made from the party primaries, about 14 billion that is why he’s saying, I won’t resign. Nothing more, just 14 billion. He want to preside over the expenditure.”
To further show that Wike and his camp are ready to fight to the end, the Rivers state governor in Abia state on Monday, told whoever care to listen, that nobody can break his relationship with the five governors.
Wike, who said that nobody could break their ranks, added that “no relationship can be bought with money. When I read some newspapers, they say some people are making attempts to break ranks. I said do you understand the modus operandi of what we are doing? If they understand the modus operandi, they will not waste their time.
“If you like, go and meet Ikpeazu, if you like go and meet Seyi, if you like go and meet Ortom, if you like go and meet Ugwuanyi. You don’t even understand what we are doing…you are making mistakes.”
Wike, who further insisted that Ayu should respect agreement and resign, warned that Nigerians will know who is relevant or not at the appropriate time.
With all these threats, some stakeholders, are, however, asking, if Wike is aware that his plan against the party can consume him and his loyalists?
With the exception of the Rivers state governor, who has a candidate, the Abia, Oyo, Benue and Enugu states governors are vying for one position or the other in the forthcoming general elections. How smooth will they scale through when the platform they are vying for their positions is on fire, as a result of self-inflicted crisis.
