The group of five (G-5) governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has left travelled to Madrid, Spain for a crucial meeting.
The group is led by the governor of Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike.
The others are Messrs Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Samuel Ortom (Benue) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu).
The quartet left Nigeria Friday night (yesterday) while Ugwuanyi was expected to join the team later.
It was further learnt that top on the agenda of the meeting is the party’s reconciliation committee recommendation to the board of trustees (BoT) that the embattled PDP chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, should resign his chairmanship position after the 2023 poll.
Recall that reconciliation committee set up by the PDP to reconcile the aggrieved G-5 members with of the party submitted its report to the BoT yesterday.
It recommended among others things that Ayu should give assurance that he would resign after the 2023 general elections.
The resolution was signed by the BoT chairman and former senate president, Mr. Adolphus Wabara.
Wabara noted that people had been wronged on both sides, but that party leaders and people close to them should desist from making further inflammatory remarks or granting press interviews on the matter.
“The BoT called on all the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum (Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State) to convene a meeting of the forum without further delay; called on all leaders of the party to match words with action, and where commitments are made, to unconditionally fulfill the same.
“(The BoT) urged the national chairman as an eminent leader to give a firm assurance that he will resign his position after the 2023 elections. In the same vein, the BoT chairman has been authorised to offer apologies on behalf of all members who feel maligned or aggrieved by the public statements made by its members nationwide that has sharpened the current division in the party.
“Finally, the BoT will refer some of these recommendations for noting and appropriate action to NEC of the party in due course.”
Recall that G-5 governors have called for the resignation of Ayu as a condition for making peace with the party.
Internal crisis has engulfed the PDP since its presidential convention in May when Wike expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome.
The rift crisis deepened when the governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, was named the vice-presidential candidate of the party.
Wike has insisted on Ayu’s resignation before he and other aggrieved governors would make peace with the party.
He said his agitation was against justice and equity for the party’s national chairman and presidential candidate to come from the same region, which is the north.
He called on Ayu to respect his pledge before the primaries that he would step aside if a northerner emerged as the presidential candidate.
“You have taken presidential candidate; you have taken party chairman; you have also taken the DG (director-general) of the campaign. We are talking about party politics. Decisions are made by the presidential candidate, chairman of the party, and the DG of the campaign.
“They are telling you they told the chairman of the BoT to resign. So, you know there is a problem. You said he should go and resign. You can put pressure on him to resign when his tenure hasn’t come to an end, but you cannot put pressure on the chairman to resign. You think at our level you will deceive us; you’ll tell us stories,” Wike stated.
Addressing the media yesterday in Port Harcourt, Wike said: “We had not done our primaries and a man came out and said if the presidential candidate came from his area, he would quit. Honour it! It is integrity and part of the hallmark of leadership is integrity. If he cannot do that, how can you tell Nigerians that anything the PDP tells you, we will do it?
“You are a party that wants to take over the reins of governance in the country and you don’t have integrity. You are presenting a man, the chairman of the party, who has no integrity. For the country to understand, we should mean what we say.”
