Camp Wike Gives Condition For Peace; Demands  Ayu’s Sack; Decries Lopsided Positions  In PDP

By Adesina Soyooye

Camp Wike has given conditions under which its members would work for the Presidential aspiration of Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Camp Wike is made up of supporters of the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, during his failed Presidential aspiration.

Members of the Group are still together, and disappointed over Wike’s loss to PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and Atiku’s failure to pick Wike as his running mate. Atiku picked Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa over Wike. Since then, Wike and his Camp have been cold towards Party activities and nobody could confirm whether they would support the Atiku/Okowa ticket or not.

On Sunday, they and Wike met for the first time since Atiku’s victory and Okowa’s choice, at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge, Abuja.

Even though no official statement was released after the meeting, snippets from the meeting point to some decisions by the group. They have given conditions, this medium was told, under which they can work for Atiku.

One of the conditions is that the National Chairman of the Party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, must quit his high profile office for a Southerner. Ayu is from Benue State, a Northern State.

The Wike Camp is insisting that since the Presidential ticket has been given to the North, it is only fair that Ayu stands down for a Chairman from the South.

A member of the PDP Board of Trustees, Professor Jerry Gana who spoke to Journalists after the meeting said:

“We know that developments will unfold, and when they do, we shall brief Nigerians. We met together for the first time after the primaries of the PDP.

“We have frankly reviewed matters among ourselves. We want to confirm we are solidly together as a group.”

The group also lamented what it called the lopsidedness in the leadership of the party. It said it favoured the Northern zones.

The Group pointed out  that in addition to Atiku and Ayu coming from the North, Dr Ayu’s second in command  in the party’s National Working Committee, Umaru Damagum (Deputy National Chairman, North) is also from the North, as well as the Chairman of its Board of Trustees, Walid Jibrin, and the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State.

Said a member of the Camp who spoke to  The Cable:

“How can a party that is systematically one-sided sell itself in the South?”

According to the Cable,

“The leaders also accused Atiku of sidelining party leaders outside his core supporters in his decision-making. They said they were aware that those in Atiku’s camp have allegedly shared key Government positions among themselves, even before next year’s elections.”

It quoted the source as asking: “How can we work for a presidential candidate who is already sidelining other leaders who are not in his camp and expect that he would change when he becomes president?

“The candidate has not demonstrated good faith at all. The election is for Atiku to lose. If he wants to win, he knows what to do. The ball is in his court. We were clear at the meeting that he alone can decide if he wants to win or lose the election.”

The Governors who attended the meeting were Wike, Rivers, Seyi Makinde, Oyo State, Okezie Ikpeazu, Abia State, Samuel Ortom, Benue State and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.

In attendance, also, were former Governors Donald Duke of Cross River, Gabriel Suswam of Benue, Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo, Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa, Ibrahim Idris of Kogi, Jonah Jang of Plateau and Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe.

Also at the meeting were a former PDP Deputy National Vice Chairman (North), Suleiman Nazif; and a former Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Mohammed Adoke.

Others are sitting and former senators Hosea Agboola, Phillip Aduda, Zainab Kure, Garba Lado, Sandy Onoh, Olaka Nwogwu and many members of the House of Representatives.

There were, also, Mohammed Sani Abacha, the party’s governorship candidate in Nasarawa , David Ombugadu, and Mike Omeri, a former Director-general of the National Orientation Agency.