The former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof Chidi Odinkalu, has said that the G-5/Integrity Group governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) might have created more problems for themselves than they have done for the presidential candidate of the party, Mr. Atiku Abubakar.
The G-5 governors made up of Messrs Nyesom Wike (Rivers State) as the leader, Samuel Ortom (Benue State), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) are calling for the resignation of Ayu to ensure regional balancing since he and the presidential candidate of the PDP, Mr. Atiku Abubakar are from the northern zone.
Efforts to reconcile the group with the mainstream PDP have not yielded any positive result.
Consequently, the group has opted out of the party’s presidential campaign council and has not been campaigning for Atiku. The G-5 members have kept the candidate they would support at the poll close to their chest.
Speaking in a lengthy interview with the Nigerian Tribune, Odinkalu said he was not in any way suggesting that that the governors do not present Atiku with issues but contended that the issues they present to the PDP presidential flag bearer are much less than they present to themselves.
“I don’t think that they actually fundamentally cost Atiku too much. It is also possible that the G-5 governors are good just for noise making and frankly, for wearing aso ebi.
“Politics is not a game of aso ebi and though aso ebi may be important, when you get down to the fundamentals the so-called G-5 governors, if you take away Wike, in my view, these other guys have caused themselves much more trouble,” he said.
Odinkalu said the G-5/Integrity Group did not do enough homework on their plan adding that as the election nears some of the G-5 governors are running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.
“I am not at all surprised that now they are trying to walk both sides of the road so that they are in bed with Wike in the daytime and then trying to hobnob with Atiku at night. Of course, that does pose all manner of challenges because if they spend all their daytime and nighttime doing romance, what energy will they save up for their nighttime proclivity?
“This is really the problem they have got and these guys may actually have created more problems for themselves than they have created for Atiku. I am not at all suggesting that the governors don’t present Atiku with issues. But the issues they present to Atiku are much less than they present to themselves.
Taking the governors one after the other, Odinkalu praised Wike for his performance as a political actor, particularly in Rivers State.
“He is on the ground there and that has been to his credit, since he was Chief of Staff to Governor Rotimi Amaechi in 2007 and 2008 before he became a minister. So, I give him a lot of credit for his knowledge of the political grass roots in the state,” he said.
He added: That said, Wike is not going to decide in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa or indeed in Delta or Imo states which are neighbouring states to Rivers how the votes will go.
“One state where he may have some sway is Cross River where part of the party structure is dependent on his patronage.”
Concerning Abia State, Odinkalu said Ikpeazu is not a political factor.
“He is running, by the way, to be a senator for Abia South on the ticket of the PDP. That means, on the same date as Atiku Abubakar, he is on the ballot and he wants to tell people to vote for one party at the top of the ticket and then vote for him at the bottom of the ticket.
“It will not work because that is just confusion. So, he will be shooting himself in the foot if he does that. That is very clear, quite apart from the fact that he has been abysmal as a governor.
“So, as a political force, Ikpeazu is not really anything to write home about,” he said.
As regard, Enugu State, Odinkalu presented a scenario similar to Abia.
He said Ugwuanyi is running for the Senate in Enugu North on the ticket of PDP and “he wants to tell the same people they should vote for him and not vote for the other person in a ballot that takes place on the same day and he has not been spectacularly successful so that his record can stand him out.
“He needs his party to do it for him. So, again, that will fail.”
Taking on Makinde, he said the governor “may be a little bit better than these other guys in terms of performance.”
However, he added: “But he (Makinde) is up against a former senate majority leader, a three-term senator (Mr. Teslim Folarin) as the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the governorship in the southwest where he could be eaten up and lose his office and he is not going to be saved by the governor of Rivers State.
“So, that means he needs his party’s supporters in the state to shop up for him because he is not going to rely on the supporters of an adverse party to save him.”
On Ortom, the professor said the governor “has been a bloody waste of time…and who is probably going to be losing in his effort at getting a senatorial seat in Benue northwest.
“He is in the same senatorial zone as the PDP national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, who he is traducing.”
