A former two-time Governor of Enugu State, and now the Senator representing Enugu East at the National Assembly, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani, has decried what he called ill-treatment, by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of five Governors opposed to the continued stay of Dr Iyorchia Ayu as the National Chairman of the Party.
The Governors, Samuel Ortom, Okezie Ikpeazu, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Seyi Makinde of Benue, Abia, Enugu and Oyo States respectively are led by the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.
The five of them boycotted the launch of the Party’s Presidential Campaign held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. They have been at loggerheads with the Party, the Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and Ayu since Wike lost the Presidential ticket to Atiku and also lost the Vice Presidential slot to the Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa.
They are demanding that Ayu steps down as National Chairman for a Southerner since both he and Atiku hail from the North. They insist that Ayu had said he would step down for a Southerner if the Presidential candidate emerge from the North.
That has not happened as Ayu has the backing of the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the Party, and majority of Party members, including Governors who think it is too close to the General Elections for the National Chairman to step down.
Commenting on the absence of Camp Wike in Uyo, Nnamani, in a statement he personally signed on Tuesday, accused the PDP leadership of not trying enough at reconciliation. He said the Party was humiliating the Governors, who he described as their leaders. The humiliation, he submitted, is rubbing off on them, their followers.
Titled, 2023 PDP Presidential Campaigns: Ignoring Five Governors, Discouraging, Nnamani wrote: “Today, I go on record in total condemnation of the treatment of five Governors mostly from the Southern States within the PDP. The Governors are our leaders, and their humiliation rubs off on all of us.”
He, also, warned against erecting parallel structures in the five States, and submitted that: “Politics is local and the folks from these affected States parading with the PDP leadership will not deliver their polling booths without the Governors.
“Without the involvement of the Governors that are our leaders, these mere cheerleaders and feel-good political operators cannot deliver.
“They can drag themselves from their homestates to Abuja. Some are permanent residents. They dress the meetings and colour the rallies, but that is what it is, political colour dressing.”
Nnamani, a PDP Senator, is an unrestrained admirer of Bola Tinubu, the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who he praises to high heavens at every turn.
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