Seemingly still angered by the lack of meaningful initiative at reconciliation from the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, on Sunday met with his counterparts backing him to consider the way forward as the 2023 presidential elections inch closer.
The closed-door meeting, which was held in Rivers State Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja, was attended by State governors known to be his major backers. There were also various coordinators of his presidential campaign led by former Information Minister, Jerry Gana.
Even though the agenda of the meeting was not publicly revealed, the Nigerian Tribune gathered that it was a fallout of the vice-presidential selection process in which Atiku snubbed Wike despite being recommended by the committee set up for the purpose. The group is miffed that despite humiliating the Rivers governor, the PDP presidential candidate had yet to reach out to him to placate him as being pushed by Governor Ortom.
Gana, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees and North Central Coordinator of the Wike Presidential campaign, spoke briefly to reporters after the meeting saying: “This is the first meeting we are holding with all our candidates in the states after the primaries. We are united and are one. We know that developments will unfold and when they do, we shall brief Nigerians.”
Meanwhile, some chieftains of the PDP have begun preliminary discussions with the camp of Wike to appease him over the running mate issue. The discussion was being kept away from the prying eyes of the public, especially the press to avoid distraction.
According to a source, Atiku was not directly involved in the talks at the moment to enable the two parties to do diligent work. He said the PDP standard-bearer would come in at the concluding stage of the on-going reconciliatory talks with Wike.
According to the source, PDP and its candidate have resolved not to engage in any blame game with the Rivers governor henceforth on the issues.
