Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state has welcomed the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, Rabiu Kwankwaso in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital ahead of the inauguration of the Mgbutanwo Internal Roads in the Emohua Local Government Area holding today (Monday).
Wike received Kwankwaso on Sunday night at the State House in Port Harcourt.
Recall that Wike had invited top members from opposition parties to commission projects in the state recently.
According to Wike, members of the opposition parties were invited to commission projects in the state for them to see firsthand and tell their party men.
A former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole last Wednesday commissioned the 8th flyover in the state located on Ada George road, adjacent to the private residence of Wike in his country home of Rumueprikom in the Obio-Akpor Local Government Area.
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi also commissioned the 9th flyover at the popular Ikoku junction on Thursday.
Similarly, President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the Port Harcourt Campus of the Nigeria Law School on Friday.
Since May, Wike and four other governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) known as the G5 have demanded the resignation of Iyorchia Ayu, saying northerners should not be the PDP national chairman and presidential candidate.
However, Ayu, a Benue indigene, has insisted that he won’t step down till the end of his four-year tenure, even as the G5 made his resignation a precondition to support Adamawa-born Atiku Abubakar’s 2023 presidential ambition.
On Sunday, the five governors elected on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and some aggrieved party leaders met in Lagos for a strategic meeting.
The meeting may not be unconnected to agitation for the removal of the PDP National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu.
After the meeting, the G5 governors and some aggrieved party leaders, and the presidential candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, agreed on the need for reconciliation to thrash out issues that have promoted the crisis within the party.
The aggrieved governors and leaders of the party also announced the formation of what they described as Integrity Group.