Ahead of the crucial 2023 general election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, is taking a big step to close the party’s cracks. Former Senate President David Mark, former Delta state governor James Ibori, and former Rivers state governor Peter Odili have been drafted by the unifier to end the party’s ongoing crisis.
According to The Nation, these three PDP grandmasters have been tasked with appeasing Rivers state governor Nyesom Wike, who has been embroiled in a bitter feud with the party’s presidential candidate and national chairman. Prior to this development, Governor Wike and his cohort had been at odds with the presidential candidate’s camp over his refusal to instruct the national chairman (Iyorchia Ayu) to resign. P Governor Wike and his colleagues believe the party has strayed from its founding principles of inclusivity and fairness.
PDP members who are dissatisfied with the party’s decision to produce a presidential candidate from the north and a national chairman from the same region have protested. Five serving governors, including Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), and Nyesom Wike, are among the key aggrieved members (Rivers). They didn’t to attend the campaign launch in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital.