Three governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the southern part of the country are currently in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, to woo the state governor, Nyesom Wike, to the ruling party.
Sources hinted that the poachers include the outgoing governor of Ekiti State and chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Kayode Fayode, accompanied by the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and his Ondo State counterpart, Rotimi Akeredolu.
Recall that Governor Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and his supporters are not disposed to the choice of the Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as the running mate to the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, who recently said Southern Nigeria must produce the next President in 2023, is also attending the meeting currently taking place in the Garden City.
There are speculations that the mission is to woo Wike and other aggrieved PDP members to align with the ruling government ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Following the division that rocked the PDP after Atiku’s emergence, there had been reports that Tinubu and Wike met in France.
Subsequently, Tinubu’s spokesperson, Tunde Rahman, described the report as “fake news“.
Meanwhile, Wike was said to have shunned the emissaries of the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in Turkey few days back.