There is panic in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as indications emerged that the leadership of the party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar may not give in to the demands of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
Sensing that his demands may not be met, Governor Wike has reportedly allowed the All Progressives Congress (APC) to make inroads into the South-south state.
Recall that the Rivers State Governor has, in recent times, been meeting with some APC chieftains loyal to Tinubu.
The Rivers State Governor had recently invited the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, former Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila to inaugurate some projects in his state.
Sources, who spoke with Vanguard, hinted that the decision of the PDP leaders not to meet the demands of the governor might be responsible for Wike’s invitation of APC governors and leaders into Rivers State.
While stating that the PDP is now in a panic, another source said that failure by the PDP leaders to meet the governor’s demands might affect the party’s performance in 2023.
“The party is dilly-dallying over Wike’s request. He has given them his conditions to support Atiku. Before the reconciliation, some leaders of the party said Wike should be ignored and since he is sensing that the PDP wants to ignore him, he is also showing them that he is important by allowing the All Progressives Congress, APC, to make inroads into his territory,” the source said.
“The party is now in a panic mode and expressing worry that if they ignore Wike, it will be to their detriment and may affect the fortunes of the party. That is why they want to make peace with him.
“Wike is also angry that the Atiku camp has shut him and his group out of the scheme of things because they have shared some of the positions among themselves.
“One of the conditions he gave is that Ayu must resign and that Atiku should prevail on him (Ayu) to step down but when they approached Ayu, he refused to resign and asked the Atiku camp to protect him.
“Ayu is insisting that if he must resign, other members of the National Working Committee, NWC, must resign and a restructuring of the party positions must take place.
“That calls for a new convention entirely but Ayu said there is no time for that and there is no way they can call for a new convention. He has vowed not to resign until after the election.
“The problem now is the party cannot deliver that message to Wike now because the meeting that was to be held to deliberate on Wike’s conditions was cancelled.”
The source added that most of the NWC members decided to back Senator Iyorchia Ayu because it will also affect them and if they don’t meet his condition, Wike will not work with them.
He claimed that if Wike does not work with the PDP, he will remain in the opposition party but work against the party, adding that this will be too dangerous for the party.
