Prince Ned Nwoko, the Delta North People’s Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial candidate, has called out the Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike, and the Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom, for frustrating presidency zoning to South-East, which had led to the impasse currently rocking the party.
Recall that, Governor Wike, had fallen out with the party’s leadership structure since losing the primary election to Atiku Abubakar. The issue of leadership structure has birthed the ‘G-5 Governors’, of which Ortom and Wike are leading members, insisting that the party leadership positions be swapped between the Northern and Southern wings, starting with Iyorchia Ayu, the PDP National chairman, giving up his chairman position to a Southerner.
Many had blamed the party Council for nominating Atiku Abubakar, for the 2023 presidential election, which gave him a clean sweep in grabbing the presidential ticket once again.
However, in a statement made available to journalists, Ned Nwoko, stated that, Atiku would have respected the outcome of the zoning committee, set up by the party leadership to resolve the issue of zoning, if Ortom and Wike had not compromised the committee.
Nwoko stated, “For a very long time, most PDP leaders were determined to zone the presidential ticket to the South-East. A committee was set up to achieve this. The committee was headed by the governor of Benue state, Samuel Ortom. At this point, Atiku said, he will respect the outcome of the zoning and won’t contest if it is zoned to the South-East. But, Wike and Ortom had other ideas.
“The committee was compromised and it left the zoning open to enable Wike contest. Wike and Ortom created the problem for South-East. Otherwise, we would have had a presidential candidate from South-East.”
