The National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party has that it will deal with the alleged anti-party activities of Governor Nyesom Wike-led group of five governors after the general elections.
The governors who pulled out of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council last year, also include Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State.
Recall that the PDP crisis started from the time the aggrieved governors insisted that the PDP National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu must resign after Atiku won the party’s presidential ticket.
A source said the governors who had also synchronised themselves as the Integrity Group are now tinkering with the idea of either throwing their weight behind the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, or the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi.
It was gathered that at a private meeting of three of the aggrieved governors with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he asked the G-5 to support Obi because no Igbo candidate had been elected president.
However, Ayu is said to be waiting till after the polls to wield the big stick and demonstrate the supremacy of the party in line with the PDP constitution
A member of the PDP National Executive Committee and former governor of a North-West state said that the action of the aggrieved governors infuriated party stakeholders across the board, warning that failure to call them to order would raise a lot of questions from loyal members of the party, according to the PUNCH.
The NEC member said, “We watched every day how these leaders ridiculed the party. Nobody said they had no reasons to be aggrieved, but we generally agreed that there were other ways to speak on the issues than the way they did.
“When the elders (Board of Trustees) intervened, we all thought the crisis was over, but it only got worse. We expect some sanctions, although the leadership of the party will set in motion what to do with them.
“At the NEC, it was nothing short of a disgrace to wake up to see governors dancing not in solidarity with their party, but with rival parties to cast aspersions on the same PDP that catapulted them to national prominence.
“It’s a good thing that Ayu is focused on the elections, but we would like to see what happens after that.”
The biggest indication of what lies ahead for the Wike-led group came from the Deputy National Youth Leader of the party, Timothy Osadolor, said that sanction for the aggrieved governors “is not a question of if but when.”
Osadolor stated, “How else could they have worked against the party than they have already? If they didn’t know that there would be sanctions, they wouldn’t be running to their states’ High Courts to procure ex-parte orders, but they are merely buying time.
“They know that they have erred, and the full wrath of the law will fall upon them. It’s not a matter of if, but of when.”
Osadolor added, “When the dust of elections is over, the party will revisit the issue. The party is supreme. Head or tail, their issue will be treated.”
(Sahara Reporters)
