As part of its reconciliation mission, the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), will today meet with the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, over the lingering crisis rocking the party.
The BoT’s meeting with Wike in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, comes after the advisory body met with the PDP presidential candidate in Abuja, Atiku Abubakar, on Sunday. The BoT has also met with the vice presidential candidate, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa.
Recall that Wike and some other aggrieved governors and party leaders pulled out of the party’s presidential campaign council following the refusal of the PDP national chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu to resign and pave way for a national chairman of southern extraction.
Wike and four of his colleagues namely, Seyi Makinde (Oyo); Samuel Ortom (Benue); Dr Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia); and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) had also met on Sunday in Enugu State to strategize on their next line of action.
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However, following uncertainty whether Wike would meet with the BoT leaders, the governor’s key ally, former member of the House of Representatives, Chief Ogbonna Nwuke, said Wike, is ready to meet BoT members.
Nwuke, who disclosed this while speaking with reporters in Port Harcourt yesterday, said as a highly rated party leader, Wike will not close his doors on fellow PDP leaders.
He said: ‘Obviously, I believe that Governor Wike is very mature. He will not turn back those who want to have a conversation with him. People have been coming to have a conversation with him and so, if the BOT is coming to have a conversation with him, there is no reason why he should turn his back on them.
“Yes, he will receive them. He is a highly rated party leader and if party leaders are coming to talk with you, you will certainly open your doors to hear what they are saying.
“I also believe it is an opportunity to state his own side of the story and also to take the BOT to think clearly as to what it wants to do in terms of achieving peace in the party.
“For me, it is time to have a decent conversation as party people on the way forward.
“I know if a governor could speak with a presidential candidate of the party; if a governor has been speaking with politicians across the country, having a conversation with members of his own political family, the BOT, is what even the entire nation is looking forward to.”
The crisis in the PDP doesn’t appear to be ending soon.
