At LEADERSHIP Twitter Spaces, PDP Stakeholders Hopeful Atiku/Wike Rift Will End Soon

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders have expressed optimism that the faceoff between their presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike would soon be resolved.

Speaking at the first edition of a weekly conversation, #LeadershipSpaces, https://twitter.com/LeadershipNGA, the guest and contributors said the PDP offers greater opportunity for Nigerians ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Atiku’s choice of Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate, had angered Wike and his loyalists who rooted for him to be the party’s vice president candidate.

After weeks of back and forth, the teams from both Atiku and Wike’s camps met in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital last Friday to resolve the issues, which include a demand for the national chairman to resign. The reconciliation process is still ongoing.

But speaking during #LeadershipSpaces conversation, the chairman of Emuoha local government area of Rivers State, Hon Chidi Lloyd, said Wike is a party man.
Lloyd, a Wike loyalist and guest speaker at the conversation, said the people of Rivers State were ready to do what the governor asks of them in the 2023 general elections.
“Politics is local and we’re ready to do what Governor Wike says. We must know that Governor Wike is a party man, ” Lloyd said, while expressing optimism that the faceoff between the two bigwigs in the PDP would be resolved.
Lloyd expressed unhappiness with the way and manner Wike was treated by some leaders in the past but added that the governor is a party man who wants the success of the PDP in 2023.
“The issue will be resolved but Governor Wike is busy commissioning projects in Rivers State. Atiku must be wary of some Abuja politicians who cannot deliver their polling units,” Lloyd said.
Also one of our guest speakers, Barr Anthony Ehilebo, said the issues in the PDP are just a struggle for space in the coming dispensation of Atiku’s presidency.
“Everybody is trying to understand his space in the coming dispensation of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and that includes Governor Wike. He is trying to find his space. The Nigerian people are a priority to members of the PDP, ” Ehilebo said.
Ehilebo, who said if Wike had won the PDP primary election he would have supported him for the presidency, added that the party must put its house in order.
Another guest speaker, who is a PDP stakeholder from Kaduna State, Danjuma Bello Sarki, said the party’s crisis was being blown out of proportion by some interested parties.
Sarki, who said Wike and Atiku are party men who will address their differences before heading to the 2023 presidential election, said the PDP offers a better alternative to Nigerians.
“The issue has been overblown by some people in other parties who take interest in what happens in the PDP. But the misunderstanding between Wike and Atiku will not affect our party because the economic retardation, insecurity, poverty, incessant ASUU strike have already made Nigerians to know that the PDP is the only alternative because we have a credible candidate and running mate in person of Atiku Abubakar and Ifeanyi Okowa.
“The APC government has put Nigerians in a very serious problem. Also, I want the members of the PDP not to lose hope. We have to unite and market our candidate and not to de-market him, ” Sarki said.
On the zoning arrangement in the PDP which has raised several eyebrows, Sarki said the arrangement does not supersede the provisions of the party’s constitution.
Also, a PDP member in Edo State, Ose Anenih, said negotiation is part of democracy, adding that Atiku and Wike would resolve their differences.
“There’s nothing wrong with the negotiations in the PDP, that’s the beauty of democracy, ” Anenih said.
A contributor, Dr John Paul Ogbonna, who said he is not a member of a party, said if the PDP puts itshouse together, the 2023 general elections would be an opportunity for them to return to power.
He said Atiku must meet with Wike and ensure that they go into the election as a united force.
#LeadershipSpaces will be held every Saturday by 10am on topical issues and the conversation as usual, will be interactive, interesting and incisive.
Meanwhile, PDP’s House of Representatives aspirants have described the ongoing reconciliation meeting between Atiku and Wike is in national interest.
The group in a statement signed by its chairman, Hon Muhammad Danjuma (Garkuwa Babba) added that the reconciliation was necessary to end the sufferings imposed on Nigerians by the administration of APC government.
The statement reads, “At this point of our democratic struggle, it is important to bring to the fore the contributions of the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku and the governor of Rivers State, Wike to the formation and survival of PDP in Nigeria.
“Atiku and Wike have struggled for the liberal democratic structure and internal democracy of PDP. Both are equally aware that the pursuit of National Interest is a core objective of PDP and they have in the past demonstrated their loyalty to National Interest for the collective benefits of Nigerians.
“The 2023 Presidential election is crucial to the survival of democracy in Nigeria. The reconciliation of Atiku and Wike is important and both leaders must demonstrate their known principle of subjecting personal or group interest to National Interest. Nigerians are clearly stressed from the misrule of the APC government and a rescue team from the failure of government is the desire of all Nigerians.
“There is no doubt that the rescue efforts will be collective by all Nigerians. The leadership of this rescue mission falls on Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential candidate of PDP. He cannot do it alone.
“He needs the support of Nigerians and the pivotal role of leading Nigerian Patriots such as Nyesom Wike cannot be undermined,” they said.