Former President Goodluck Jonathan has denied the report associating him with the five Peoples (PDP) governors, popularly called G-5, who are currently at loggerheads with the party and are not working for its 2023 presidential candidate, Mr. Atiku Abubakar.
The G-5 governors are Messrs Nyesom Wike (Rivers State), Samuel Ortom (Benue State), Seyi Makinde (Oyo State), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia State) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu State).
The governors have been consistent in their demand that the national chairman of the party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu steps down, arguing that two northerners should not be the party’s national chairman and presidential candidate.
Efforts to reconcile the group with the presidential standard bearer have been unsuccessful as the G-5 intensifies attacks against him for backing Ayu.
As the crisis in the party lasts, fingers are pointing at Jonathan as the person orchestrating the fight.
It is alleged that Jonathan wants to exact a pound of flesh from Atiku because of the role he (Atiku) played in the lead up to the 2015 election and subsequent defeat of Jonathan at the polls.
According to the report, some of the combat-ready PDP governors are known Jonathan’s men. While Wike served as minister of education, Ortom served as minister of state for trade and investment in Jonathan’s presidency.
One news medium quoted an unnamed PDP source as saying that the party had resolved to “send a powerful delegation to the former president to plead with him to intervene. The delegation is not going to accuse the former president but to merely plead with him to forgive Atiku because we already know what is brewing underground.
Reacting to the allegations, the former president said in a statement by his media aide, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze that the claims were false and aimed at misleading the public.
“We believe that such duplicitous statements could not have emanated from the camps of those who truly wish the party well. It simply shows that the so-called ‘sources’ of the story are not disposed to the peace and unity they pretend to be seeking in the PDP.
“How could anybody turn around in 2022 to accuse Jonathan of bearing a grudge against the PDP when the former President had campaigned vigorously for the party and its Presidential candidate during the 2019 elections?
“Those who insinuate that Dr. Jonathan is not happy with the PDP’s Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, because of whatever roles he played ahead of the 2015 elections forget that the former president actively campaigned for Atiku in 2019, attending the flag-off of his campaigns in Sokoto and subsequently participating in the campaigns in some states like Rivers and Bayelsa.
“The fact that Dr. Jonathan stood out as an exemplary politician who, throughout his political career, abhorred treachery and mean-mindedness, and played politics without bitterness, needs no gainsay. Unlike many of his detractors, the former President has, out of office, progressed to a higher level of statesmanship, faithfully applying himself to causes that promote peace, love, unity and progress, across the entire West African sub-region.
“It is Dr. Jonathan’s wish that the PDP is able to resolve its internal crisis, unite all members and have a good showing in the forthcoming 2023 elections. We wish to however point out that it will be difficult to achieve this aspiration if some forces in the party continue to engage in mudslinging, disinformation and manifest tendencies that negate the values that are dear to loyal party members.
“Former President Jonathan had served this country meritoriously at both the state and federal levels. He has now been out of office for almost eight years and Nigerians have come to trust and love him for who he is.
“While in office, he had no enemies to fight. He still has no enemies to fight, now that he has become a private citizen,” Eze said in the statement.
