A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Yekini Nabena, has said the Nyesom Wike-led five Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors are confused, handicapped and lack capacity to sway election victory for any presidential candidate in the forthcoming general election.
Accordingly, he warned political leaders, especially in APC, to have a rethink as they continue to parley with with Governors Wike of Rivers, Samuel Ortom of Benue, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, Seyi Makinde of Oyo, and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, the former APC spokesman said except governor Wike, other four PDP governors have not lived up to expectations to deliver reasonable votes for any presidential candidate.
Nabena noted that unless INEC delivers election materials to State Government Houses directly and allow them to manipulate the process, the forthcoming general election is beyond the reach of some poorly-performed serving governors like Ortom, Ikpeazu, Ugwuanyi and Makinde, with the exception of Wike who has some infrastructure to show the people.
On the likelihood of his party embracing the G-5 if they decide to work for its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the Bayelsa-born politician said, “The G-5 governors are confused and handicapped whether as PDP men or as supporter of any opposition party.
“We have been hearing all manners of things. Today they are with Asiwaju, tomorrow they are with Peter Obi and next tomorrow they may work for Atiku. Which one do we believe?
“If they support our party and we win in the February presidential election, our members won’t see the G-5 governors as an ally to be trusted. Again if they change their minds and work for Atiku, and (God forbid) PDP wins after all they have told Nigerians, they will still be treated like pariahs. The same treatment will befall them in Labour Party. Therefore, give or take, these governors are losers in waiting.”
Nabena urged Nigerians to ignore the “noise making-governors”, adding that no serious presidential candidate is still counting on their support to win in February.
He said, “The new Electoral law has reduced dramatically influence of seating governors to do magic during election unless the electoral umpire decides to handover the process to them. The less performing governors are the worst for it because electorates won’t listen to them on election day.
“Again, the new innovations as introduced by INEC, if religiously followed, is another challenge for those who think they can sway the vote. This BVAS is not anybody’s mate. People will decide and not governora any longer.
“I will advise those who are still waiting on the G-5 governors to shift their attention to the real voters because these governors won’t be at the polling unit on election day,” Nabena said.
On his assessment of ongoing APC campaign rallies across the state of the federation, Nabena said, “Tinubu’s candidacy is nationwide accepted, that’s why you see massive support wherever the campaign train goes.
“By the God’s grace victory is certain for the APC and that’s why I don’t think we need the support of these paperweigh G-5 governors because it will be unfair to our leaders in these five states who are working hard and mobilising for our candidate (Bola Tinubu) to be relegated for the PDP governors.”
Nabena, however, called for more inclusion in the ongoing process to deliver Tinubu/Shettima presidential ticket.
“I will call on our leaders to bring more people on board. There are certain people who are still aggrieved because of one thing or the other, especially as a result of primary elections that produced various candidate at all levels. The APC national leaders should do more to ensure genuiue reconciliation across board,” he stated.
