Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has said he is not the leader of the aggrieved governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), popularly known as G5.
Speaking in a recent interview on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Wike named the Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom as leader of the G5. “We can’t leave our house to armed robbers, we can’t do that. No way. And we won’t leave this party”, he said.
The PDP has been enmeshed in crisis after the party’s national convention in May 2022 where former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar defeated 12 other aspirants, including Wike, to emerge as the party presidential candidate for the 2023 elections.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the primary, Wike and his associates are demanding the replacement of the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu with a southerner to correct the “regional imbalance” in the PDP, considering that Atiku and Ayu are both northerners.
Apart from Wike and Ortom, other governors who are members of the G5 are Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu); Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), and Seyi Makinde (Oyo).
The G5 governors, who were appointed into the PDP presidential campaign council, withdrew their membership and have since boycotted PDP presidential rallies.
