Three former ministers who served under the regime of President Goodluck Jonathan have picked the Peoples Democratic Party governorship forms to enable them t contest the party’s primaries in their respective states.
Amongst them are; the former Minister of State for Niger Delta, Mr. Darius Ishaku; a former Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, and a former Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike.
The ministers were among the seven who resigned their appointments on Monday to contest governorship seats of their respective states.
While Ishaku is aspiring to be the governor of Taraba State, Chukwu and Wike are contesting for the same position in Ebonyi and River states respectively.
Ishaku told journalists after paying the mandatory N11m nomination fee at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja that he remained the consensus candidate from the southern part of the state.
He said his aspiration had the support of a former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd.).
Led by a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Austin Opara, the group said it was motivated to pick the form for the ex-minister due to his pedigree as a two-time council boss in Rivers State and a former Chief of Staff to the Governor.
Speaking with journalists after picking the form at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja, Opara, however, explained that his group would not discourage others from vying for the gubernatorial ticket, while calling on those interested in the seat to exercise their right.
According to the former deputy speaker, Wike is on a “rescue mission,” adding that those in his group believe that the former minister is the only person that can be used to wrestle power from the All Progressives Congress in the state.
On what could have made them purchase the form, knowing full well that the incumbent governor is from Ikwerre, just like Wike, the PDP leader said, “Amaechi diverted the mandate given to him by Rivers people by joining the APC.”
Also, a former Minister of Police Affairs and one of the Yobe State governorship aspirants in the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Waziri, has said the activities of insurgents cannot stop election from taken place in the state.