Wike Continues Search for Relevance, Meets Obasanjo, Atiku, Obi in London

·Rivers governor, allies hounded by limited options 

·Ex-VP alleges APC manufacturing false impression of division in PDP

·Says ruling party jittery over impending fall in next year’s election

·Appeals to party members, supporters to avoid utterances that can sustain ruling party’s claims

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

In furtherance of his search for relevance and attention, the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, yesterday, met separately in London with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi.

The meetings yesterday were parts of the consideration of the various options before Wike and allies, ahead of the 2023 general election.
There was, however, no official pronouncement on the reason for the meetings or their outcome. But recent events showed they might be related to the much-anticipated alignments and realignments before the 2023 polls, even though Wike and friends have limited options.

The meetings occurred amid allegations yesterday by Atiku that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was deliberately manufacturing a false impression of division in PDP, just to cast the opposition party in bad light.

He said APC had nothing to campaign with, and was already jittery, because of its imminent fall in next year’s general election.
The former vice-president, therefore, appealed to PDP members and his supporters to be cautious of their utterances in order not to fall into the snare of APC.
Wike had since the May 28 PDP presidential primaries become a person of huge political interest in the country, especially, after he reacted badly to the loss of the vice presidential position to the Delta State governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa. He openly expressed his resentment about the turning of the political tides against him at those two occasions, which almost left him in the lurch.
The disagreements arising from the PDP presidential primary polarised the party along the camps of Wike and Atiku.
The development prompted the party to raise reconciliation panels, which, unfortunately, had been unable to change much. This was widely believed to have given Wike the leeway to open talks with opposition elements.

The news of Wike’s meeting with the presidential candidate of APC, Bola Tinubu, two days ago in London, had triggered concerns in PDP.  Atiku was earlier scheduled to meet Wike in London, to try to resolve their differences.

But Wike’s purported meeting with Tinubu jolted the Atiku-Wike meet, and revved up momentum for their eventual meeting yesterday.
For the first time, the meeting between the PDP presidential candidate and the Wike camp in the party ended in smiles.
The first meeting in July at the residence of Jerry Gana had ended without any concrete agreement. But yesterday’s meeting ended with all of the attendees smiling, an indication that a peaceful resolution of the crisis might be in sight.

The meeting held yesterday evening at a London hotel involved Atiku, Wike, Governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Sam Ortom of Benue State, Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State, and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State.

Details of the outcome were not immediately available, but they were held against the background of the crisis in PDP sparked by what those aligned to Wike alleged as the unfair treatment given to him after he lost the PDP presidential primary.

Apart from yesterday’s meeting with Obasanjo, Atiku, Obi, and others in London, Wike had since the PDP primary been receiving guests and had met Obi twice in Nigeria. He had also met with three governors of APC, namely, Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), and Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos) over alliances issues.

Wike’s meeting with the three APC governors was alleged to be directly connected with furthering discussions on the imperative of southern presidency, as previously agreed to by governors from the region. But sources believed the meeting was actually the beginning of the discussions on the possibility of Wike working with Tinubu in 2023.

Some of Wike’s men had continued to insist that the governor was too politically aware to make any move that could be inimical to his own political interest and that of the party in a fit of anger. But nothing so far seems to suggest Wike is still completely with PDP.

The PDP governors at the meetings with Obasanjo, Atiku, and Obi, included Ortom, Seyi Makinde (Oyo), and Ikpeazu, as well as former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke and Senator Olaka Nwogu.

But, broken down into practical politics, observers believed that with the INEC timetable and schedule of activities, effectively shutting their doors of realistic options against Wike and co, given the place of time in the electoral process, Wike and others really could not actually leave the PDP as being rumoured.

For instance, Wike has three candidates for the Senate election, eight candidates for the House of Representatives, 32 members of the state assembly, a governorship and a deputy governorship candidates, making it 45 candidates for the 2023 elections, whose career and political future are at stake and at the mercy of whatever option he embraces.

The same situation applies to Makinde of Oyo State, as well as Ortom of Benue State and Ikpeazu of Abia State, both of whom are even senatorial candidates of the PDP.

Unfortunately, for them, the presidential and the National Assembly elections are holding first, the outcome of which could shape subsequent elections the following week.
Therefore, whether or not Wike embraced the olive branch extended to him by Atiku in London, it would be impossible to see him bite his nose to spite his face, in a fit of anger.

One of the sources at the meetings told THISDAY that the Wike camp had only one item on its agenda: reconstitution of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) to reflect more southern presence. The governor believed the current structure of PDP did not really reckon with the south, and “that’s the problem with PDP at the moment”.

The source, which pleaded anonymity, said they had expected that Atiku at this time would step in to deliver leadership. However, it said Atiku’s attitude was the least expected of the PDP presidential candidate at the material time in the life of the party.

Meanwhile, Atiku, in a statement by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, in Abuja, counseled party members and supporters. The statement said, “It has become imperative to appeal to all party members, leaders and everyone related to, connected with or associated with the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, to desist from making comments that potentially reduce the optics of PDP’s image as a united political party.

“This appeal becomes necessary in order to call the attention of party leaders and members to the diversionary antics of the ruling All Progressives Congress, which, in manufacturing a false impression of division within the PDP, aims to hoodwink the Nigerian public to overlook the monumental failures of the ruling party.

“Today, Nigerians look up to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to lead the charge in ousting the ruling party. This expectation from the people is the reason the APC is jittery of their impending fall in next year’s general election.  It is also the very reason the ruling party is manipulating the political process to create a sense of division in the PDP.

“Because they know that there is nothing to campaign with from their records of performance in office, the APC has elected to play the role of the devil’s advocate, regaling in celebration of their imaginary invincibility upon a fraudulent claim that the PDP is divided.

“It is for this reason that I appeal to every true member of the PDP and anyone, who truly wishes the success of the PDP presidential candidate, to not fall for the antics of the APC in making statements that could give credence to the false claim of divisions in the PDP.

“All the leaders of the party, including especially the governor of Rivers State, His Excellency Nyesom Wike, and all governors of the PDP are united in working for the victory of the PDP in next year’s general election across board.

“What is at stake in next year’s election is the future of Nigeria and all leaders and members of the PDP are on the same page in the mission to rescue Nigeria from the stranglehold of the APC.”