From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Inspite of the ugly romance between the G- 5 Governors and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), a top member of the Presidential Campaign Organization(PCO) of the party, Hon. Chile Igbawua, has insisted that the group led by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has no other option than to work for the victory of the party in the forthcoming general elections.
The G-5 governors who are up in arms with the party have been calling for the resignation of its national Chairman, Dr. Iorchia Ayu, as their minimum condition for peace in the party and to join the campaign team of its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The group which includes Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Seyi Makinde (Oyo) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) have recently travelled to the United Kingdom for a strategic meeting ahead of the elections.
The group had equally mobilised other party leaders including Chief Bode George, Prof Jerry Gana, etc. to form the ‘Integrity Group’ against Atiku.
But speaking with Daily Sun, a member of the PCO and Deputy Director, Election Management (North), Hon. Chile Igbawua, expressed confidence that the G-5 will assiduously worked for the success of the party at the polls as it would be politically suicidal for them to support another political party.
“Has any of the G-5 say he is leaving the PDP? They have not say so. Some of them are candidates themselves. One of the G-5 governor is contesting for a second term as Governor, so he is interested. My own Governor, Samuel Ortom is a senatorial candidate, he is interested. The Enugu State Governor is a senatorial candidate and also interested.
“Out of the five of them, only two are not contesting effectively on their own. But you know when you have candidates in an election the interest is strong as if you are there yourself. So, I know all of them are interesting in PDP winning the election and they have not in any way indicated that they are interested in other political parties winning in their states.
“That being the case, I believe that when the results are out, you will see that they have worked so hard and assiduously in their states that PDP still win in those states.”
Chile however expressed confidence that the crisis which he described as “family issue” would be resolved before the election.
“All of us want to win the election. The conflict which apparently look big is not that big, its a family thing within the PDP and all efforts are being made to ensure that it is resolved most likely before the election.
“Both the Governor of my State, Samuel Ortom and myself are members of the PDP and also members of the Atiku Campaign Council. He may not have taken his seat formally, but he is a member.
“Again, we are all PDP members and are working for the success of the party. The G-5 like you said, have issues that we are trying to sort out as a party. As a person, Iam talking with m Governor on a continuous basis and I can tell you that he wants the problem to be resolved.
The erstwhile Chief Commissioner, Public Complaints Commission(PCC), disclosed that as an election manager, he is confident that the PDP will form the next government by May 2023.
“As an election Manager, I don’t stop at campaign speeches, but I have talked to people, candidates and voters and I am able to decipher how strongly people feel that its time for PDP to come back to governance in the country.
“The 2023 election campaign is very scientific and I may not be able to tell you everything that we are doing, because, as a good hunter, you don’t whistle while hunting because your prey will all run away. But we are working very hard to win the next election as a party,” he revealed.
The Benue politician further boasted that Atiku will win the mandatory 25 per cent votes in more than 24 states in the February 25, 2023 election, including the South- East geo-political zone.
