Atiku, Ayu, Okowa to meet Wike after parley with PDP senators
The recent victory of the People’s Democratic Party during the Osun State governorship election has offered the party a lifeline to kick-start a rapprochement among top stakeholders ahead of the 2023 electoral battle.
The major opposition party emerged from a national convention to pick its 2023 Presidential candidate in May terribly fractured. The situation was not helped by a series of developments that followed the convention at which former vice president Atiku Abubakar emerged the winner ahead of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
The alleged comments of the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, about the roles played by Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, and the subsequent nomination of Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as running mate to Atiku to the chagrin of Wike, further polarized the party.
But speaking to The Point on Wednesday afternoon, a chieftain of the party who craved anonymity, said indications are that the party might have rediscovered its grove, stating that the recent victory of the party in Osun played a key part.
“The party, it would seem, has found its groove again. And I can tell you it is made possible by the victory of the party in Osun State. Success has many brothers and relations; it is failure that is an orphan. Many thought that the graph would continue on a downward spiral. You know, after the convention, the immediate fallouts, the choice of a vice-presidential candidate, the loss of Ekiti election, though foretold, the visit of opposition party chieftains to court our members and further provoke disaffection towards the party from, especially, Governor Wike and the rest.
The party, it would seem, has found its groove again. And I can tell you it is made possible by the victory of the party in Osun State.
But thank God for Osun State. The graph is looking upward now. It brought back that joy that only the sense of victory can give. You could see that everyone momentarily forgot what transpired in Abuja and its fallouts.
“Then, that undying truth played out.
‘Time heals everything’. If it was a strategy, it seemed to have worked.
Individuals were allowed to cool off and exhaust their anger and disappointment.
Their anger has certainly worn thin, and we are now ready and seriously thinking about reconciliation. And the Waziri has set the ball rolling with that all-important meeting with the Senate caucus yesterday. I can say we are more than ever before ready for 2023. I love the energy flowing from the party stalwarts and other stakeholders since the Osun victory was announced,” he said.
Indications were also rife on Wednesday that Atiku and Wike would soon embrace one another.
A message on his twitter handle on Wednesday read: “So far so good All the grievances between Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike CON and H.E. Atiku Abubakar PDP Presidential Candidate is over now.
It’s the only PDP that has the best conflict resolution Mechanisms to resolve its crisis internally. Trusting PDP means giving hope for our Country Nigeria.
Together we Stand as One big Family. May PDP Succeed
#AtikuIsComing; #WeStandWithAtiku; #OneNigeria; #powertothepeople; #TeamAtiku
Atiku, alongside the National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu and Governor Okowa of Delta State, on Tuesday, met with the members of the party’s Senate caucus in Abuja in an apparent bid to hammer out a reconciliation of all aggrieved tendencies within the party ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Though the source would not give out much information about the meeting, he sounded positive and hopeful of a successful rapprochement within the party.
Like Wike, many PDP chieftains were unhappy with the party. They include former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose; Benue State Governor, Samuel Orthom and others about some developments in the party, particularly the presidential primary and the selection of the running mate to Atiku
.
The development polarized the party and especially among its governors. But the source stated that Atiku has vowed to reunite the party ahead of the elections.
“The Waziri tells all that he is coming to unify the country that has broken into shreds along our well-known fault lines of religion, ethnicity and zonal divisions. He owes it a duty to first unite his party and he is very determined about that. There is so much hope in that regard. He’s a unifier. With him, PDP can never stay divided,” the source added.
