Political analyst, Ken Okolugbo has advised the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, to sacrifice the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu to gain the support of the five aggrieved Governors elected on the platform of the party.
Gatekeepers News reports that the G5; Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Samuel Ortom (Benue), and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu states are demanding the resignation/removal of the PDP National Chairman, Ayu, as a condition to return to the party’s presidential campaign fold.
The G5 insisted that the PDP Presidential candidate and National Chairman cannot be from the same region as Wike has recently noted that he will announce and mobilise people “from state to state” for his preferred candidate from January.
Asked on Tuesday during an interview on News Central’s Political HQ for his view on Wike’s statement, Okolugbo who is a former member of the PDP, responded: “Wike’s statement does not help at all, that is why I said that to appease the ‘ghost’, if I were Atiku, I will have to sacrifice Ayu.
“For you to be a unifier, you have to bend back to accept certain things.”
Okolugbo acknowledged that it is a big risk to sacrifice Ayu but opined that it is worth trying to get the support of the five aggrieved Governors who are “threatening the soul of PDP”.
He recalled how President Muhammadu Buhari ‘sacrificed’ Adams Oshiomhole, the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), adding that “if you notice APC have bonded. Yes, Amaechi might not be visible in most of their political outings because he was a runner-up, but he hasn’t said he is out of the party.”
“The Same Factors That Made Jonathan Lost Election Is Playing Again In PDP”
Okolugbo said: “You see, the same factors that tore the party apart that made Goodluck Jonathan lose the (second term) election is exactly what is playing.
“The G5, what are they pushing? They are pushing that Ayu resigns. Five Governors are obviously dissatisfied that the Presidency come to the South.
“This was the same reason Atiku Abubakar, the likes of Bukola Saraki and others stormed out of the convention and went to the Yar’Adua Centre in 2014 to hold their own meeting that they call the New PDP (NPDP).
“Why was the NPDP founded? They felt that Jonathan should not have been going for the second tenure.”
He noted that it was the movement of the NPDP that made Jonathan lose his second term Presidential bid.
On the conflict among Southern Governors of the PDP which led to the South losing the presidential ticket of the party to the North during the Primary election, Okolugbo suggested that Wike did not do enough to lobby his Delta State counterpart, Ifeanyi Okowa, to back his presidential ambition.
He said: “The Asaba accord was taken by the APC Southern Governors and the PDP Southern Governors but it seems as if the APC southern Governors kept to the accord and the PDP southern Governors were not united. Governor Udom Emmanuel ran, Wike ran, Governor Godwin Obaseki and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa did not run. Don’t forget Governor Ben Ayade had already moved to the APC. Governor Duoye Diri was a first-timer, nobody was expecting him to run.
“Now, there was a disconnect between Duoye Diri, Okowa and Wike. People saw it that Udom was running to weaken Wike’s chance and the disconnect between Duoye Diri, Okowa and Wike was what has cost the South not having the presidential candidate come to the region.
“If Wike was also able to bridge that gap, I must also put a bit of the blame on Wike because Okowa was not running, he was the chairman of the Southern Governors Forum, so it behoves on Wike to have lobbied Okowa enough to get him to reason why it should either be him or Udom he should support going into the convention.
“So Wike was not able to carry Okowa along, people will say Okowa did not see reasons to support the South that’s why he’s been termed a betrayer especially by some southern political leaders like Papa Edwin Clark and co.
“It is difficult for him (Okowa) now to remove the tag because he now became the beneficiary of the candidacy of Atiku Abubakar.”
