G-5 Seeks Relevance with Minority Leadership Hijack

After causing three of their five-member governors to lose senatorial seats due to the internal crisis they inflicted on the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the 2023 general election, the promoters of the already weakened G-5 governors are seeking new relevance with their current attempt to hijack the minority leadership positions in the National Assembly, Ejiofor Alike reports

The ignoble roles allegedly played by former Governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu State), Samuel Ortom (Benue State), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia State), and the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde to frustrate the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar were believed to have contributed largely to the weakening of the main opposition party and its loss of the February 25 presidential poll to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

But the G-5 also paid dearly for weakening the party as three of its members lost their bids to go to the senate after completing their two terms as governors.

The only member of the Wike-led G-5 who could hold his head high after the general election was Makinde who won his reelection bid in a largely transparent manner.

Though Wike’s preferred successor, Siminalayi Fubara, was declared the winner of the Rivers State governorship poll on the platform of the PDP, the elections in the state were among the most controversial in the country.

In Enugu State, Ugwuanyi suffered the most humiliating defeat in the hands of the senatorial candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Senator Okechukwu Ezea, who polled 104,492 votes to defeat the former governor who came a distant second with 46,948 votes.

The agitation by the G-5 governors that the Benue-born National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu must vacate office also weakened the party in Benue State as Ortom’s senatorial ambition was cut short by the candidate of the APC, Titus Zam, who polled 143,151 votes against his 106,882 votes.

Similarly, Ikpeazu, who was perceived to be the worst performing governor among the G-5, also lost his senatorial bid, having polled 28,422 votes, while Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) got 49,693 votes to emerge victorious.

With the shameful performance of the G-5 in the elections, the political career of their members is under threat.

The efforts of its promoters to arrange a face-saving visit to President Bola Tinubu ended up as a mere photo op.

It was common knowledge that Ugwuanyi, Ikpeazu and Ortom did not support Tinubu during the elections.

Before the elections, the G-5 made it clear that their grouse against Atiku was the emergence of northerners as both the presidential candidate and the national chairman of the party.

They specifically insisted that the only condition for them to support Atiku was for Ayu to relinquish his position to a southerner for the sake of equity and justice.

But when Tinubu emerged victorious, they tried unsuccessfully to ingratiate themselves with him by suddenly claiming that they opposed Atiku’s ambition because of their preference for the emergence of a president of southern extraction.

Today, the influence of the G-5 governors has paled into insignificance with most of their members heading to political oblivion.

However, their selfish promoters, in their usual desperation, think the best way to seek a new relevance and warm themselves into Tinubu’s heart, is by plunging the main opposition party into a fresh crisis, which they think will weaken its capacity to serve as a formidable opposition to the ruling APC.

These desperados failed to realise the potential risk of a destabilised National Assembly to Tinubu’s administration.

It is not surprising that the promoters of the G-5 are plotting to frustrate the PDP’s plan to produce the minority leaders in the National Assembly.

While the PDP is said to be pushing for the ex-governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aminu Tambuwal (PDP, Sokoto South) for the Senate Minority leadership seat, the promoters of the G-5 were allegedly pushing for Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe (Cross River North).

According to sources within the PDP, the G-5 had initially wanted to sponsor another influential senator from the South-east, who is from another minority party.

But when their promoters realised that the plot was dead on arrival due to the numerical strength of the PDP in the Senate, they opted for a PDP senator to cause crisis within the party.

APC has 59 Senators; PDP, 36; LP, eight; New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), two; Social Democratic Party (SDP); two; APGA, one; and YPP, one.

Wike had visited the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio at his office to draft the former Akwa Ibom State governor into the alleged plot to destabilise the main opposition party.

Many lawmakers however believe that Akpabio will be inviting trouble for himself if he backs the plot to destabilise the Senate.

When the Senate resumes plenary on July 4, Akpabio is expected to read the letter from the political parties announcing their nominations for the various leadership positions, which will be submitted to him by the majority and minority caucuses of the parties.

Following the alleged intrigues, the G-5, Tambuwal and former governors of Kebbi and Bayelsa states, Senators Mohammed Adamu Aliero, and Henry Seriake Dickson, as well as five other senators from the minority political parties had in a statement issued last week, alleged that forces inside and outside the Senate were making attempts to divide the minority parties and foist a pliant and compromised leadership on them.

However, a group that identified itself as the Concerned PDP League (CPDPL) had rejected any attempt by the party to present Tambuwal as Senate Minority Leader, alleging that Tambuwal’s past had caught up with him.

Those opposed to Tambuwal’s ambition recalled how he defied the PDP in June 2011 by contesting the position of the House Speaker with the party’s anointed candidate, Mrs. Mulikat Adeola-Akande, whom he defeated with the support of the members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), led by the then House Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila.

Tambuwal was also accused of always supporting northern candidates against southerners at every opportunity.

His traducers recalled how he supported former Speaker, Yakubu Dogara against Gbajabiamila when it was time for him to pay the latter back for supporting him against Adeola-Akande.

The former Sokoto Governor had also defected to the APC to support former President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 elections when President Goodluck Jonathan was seeking reelection on the platform of the PDP.

When he returned to the PDP, he was allegedly sponsored by Wike in the 2018 presidential primary, which he lost to Atiku.

But during the 2022 PDP presidential primary where he was supposed to pay Wike back, he humiliated the former Rivers State governor by stepping down for Atiku at the convention venue.

However, his supporters are optimistic that the G-5’s current attempt to stop him in a bid to seek relevance will fail.