2023: G5 is not dead, says Wike

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has said the G5 governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have not split as is widely speculated.

Mr Wike stated this on Tuesday during the governorship campaign flag-off organised by the Rivers State PDP Campaign Council for Ahoada East Local Government Area of the state.

The rally was broadcast live on Channels TV and monitored by PREMIUM TIMES.

The G5, a group of aggrieved PDP governors, is being led by Mr Wike.

The governors are aggrieved with the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku and the party’s national leadership.

Apart from Mr Wike, other members of the group include Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu State) Governor Samuel Ortom (Benue), Governor Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia State) and their Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde.

The group came about after the PDP presidential primary, where Nigeria’s former vice president, Atiku, defeated Mr Wike and others to become the party’s presidential candidate.

They have been demanding the resignation of the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to pave the way for a southerner to lead the party in order to achieve a “regional balance”.

The governors’ argument is that both Mr Ayu and Atiku hail from northern Nigeria.

The Chairperson of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PDP PCC) in Rivers State, Lee Maeba, recently claimed the G5 was “dead.”

But speaking during the rally on Tuesday, Mr Wike denied the claim, explaining that the G5 governors have withdrawn from talking regularly in public in order to embark on silent strategic actions ahead of the general elections.

“They said G-5 is dead. We that you said are dead are not worried. But you that are alive are worried. We are not talking again, we are not worried; yet you are worried. You fail to realise that in politics, there is time for talk and time for action. Action has started and February 25 is the D-day,” he said.

Mr Wike said those making claims that the group was dead were only looking for ways to understand their strategies ahead of the general elections.

“You can never know what our plans and strategies are, no matter how you pressurise us, we will not disclose our strategy. They don’t know there is a time to talk and there is a time to take action in politics,” he said.

‘No insecurity in Rivers State’

The PDP PCC in Rivers State, on Monday, announced the cancellation of its presidential campaign rally slated for 14 February in the state, citing rising attacks against its members and supporters in the state.

But Mr Wike said the PDP at the centre has never loved the state in the first place, insisting that there was no insecurity in the state.

READ ALSO: 2023: G5 governors endorse all PDP candidates in Enugu, silent on Atiku

“When they said they cancelled the rally, it is a lie; they don’t want to tell us that they can’t mobilise. In any case, PDP hasn’t told us that they love Rivers State,” he said.

He contended that the cancellation of the PDP presidential rally in the state on the basis of insecurity was not defendable given that the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi and his New Nigeria Peoples Party counterpart, Rabiu Kwankwaso, both campaigned in the state without being attacked.

“Peter Obi came, I gave him vehicles. He campaigned and left. Nothing happened to him. Kwankwaso came here. I gave him vehicles. He campaigned and nothing happened to him.

“APC has applied and I have given them a stadium; if they want vehicles from me, I will give them. But your party (PDP) said there is insecurity in Rivers,” he said.

The governor claimed that both Atiku and national leaders of the party did not sympathise with the state when it battled the 2022 flood disaster but “went” to neighbouring states of Bayelsa and Delta, which were also affected by the flood.

“They showed us they don’t love us. No problem but our destiny is in our hands. Nobody can force us to do anything.”