By joining forces with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, who is not on the ballot paper in the 2023 general election to de-market and weaken the Peoples Democratic Party, Ejiofor Alike reports that Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, Samuel Ortom of Benue State and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State have lost their senatorial elections, while the fate of Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State on his second term bid hangs in the balance
When Governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State decided to align with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State to work against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on whose platform they were planning to contest in the 2023 general election, many political analysts believed that they were unwittingly putting their political ambitions in jeopardy.
This belief stemmed from the fact that Wike has no stake in this year’s general election, except sponsoring a successor on the platform of the PDP.
Unlike Ugwuanyi, Ortom and Ikpeazu who cannot afford to lose their senatorial seats, and Makinde, who also cannot afford to sacrifice his second term ambition, the Rivers State governor can easily trade the ambition of his preferred successor on the altar of political expediency and personal survival.
It was shocking to many observers of the anti-party activities of the G-5 governors as the other four governors allowed themselves to be drafted into Wike’s mission to settle personal scores.
By choosing to work for the candidates of different political parties in the same election, many analysts had argued that the members of Wike’s camp might suffer the fate of the five governors of the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD), who were reportedly ‘hoodwinked’ by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration and they lost their second term bids.
In what many had described as a show of solidarity with Wike, the four governors who were sympathetic to his cause had pulled out of the Presidential Campaign Council of the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, insisting that the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Iyorcha Ayu, must step resign for a southerner to succeed him.
The anti-party activities of Wike and his group did not end with their pulling out from Atiku’s campaign council.
They also started hobnobbing openly with the leaders of other major political parties before the 2023 general election.
Wike’s grouse was his woeful loss of PDP’s presidential and vice presidential tickets.
But in the resolution read by a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Bode George, where they took the decision to pull out from Atiku’s campaign council, the camp of the Rivers State governor insisted that “Senator Iyorchia Ayu must resign as the National Chairman of the party for an acting Chairman of the Southern Nigerian extraction to emerge and lead the party on the national campaign.
“Consequently, we resolve not to participate in the campaign council in whatever capacity until the resignation of Dr. Iyorchia Ayu,” part of the resolution added.
Though Wike’s grouse was his loss of the presidential and vice presidential tickets of the party, he recruited others to demand that Ayu must resign because both the party’s presidential candidate and national chairman should not emerge from the North.
Wike and his group had supported the election of Ayu democratically. The Rivers State governor and his camp had also supported the recommendation of the party’s committee on zoning to throw the presidential ticket open when many were agitating that it should be zoned to the South like the All Progressives Congress (APC) did. Indeed, Wike’s close ally and Benue State governor, Ortom was the chairman of the zoning committee.
Analysts had argued that if Wike was truly committed to the cause of the South, he should have insisted that the ticket be zoned to the South. But those close to him said he had feared that the northern aspirants could insist on micro zoning to the South-east to exclude him if he insisted on zoning to the South. According to his critics, if he was truly being driven by justice and fairness and not selfish interest, he should have made a case for the South-east since his kinsman from the South-south and former President Goodluck Jonathan handed over to President Muhammadu Buhari.
His critics also argued that he was driven by personal ambition and was confident that he would defeat Atiku and all other aspirants, hence his decision to back throwing the ticket open.
Having lost both presidential and vice presidential tickets, and realised that he would not be on the ballot in the elections, the Rivers State governor was busy mobilising the four other governors to gallivant around the world under the auspices of the ‘Integrity Group’ of G-5 governors.
While Ugwuanyi and Ortom were accused by their political opponents of abandoning many communities in their states to the rampaging herdsmen and kidnappers in pursuit of Wike’s project, Makinde was accused of not showing seriousness to his second term campaign. On his part, Okezie was believed to have done nothing to curb the high level of insecurity in his state which peaked with the abduction of the then Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence Samuel Kanu-Uche.
While these governors were busy wearing “Aso ebi” and holding meetings both in Nigeria and outside the country, they paid less attention to governance and their 2023 political ambitions.
These governors vowed to work against the presidential candidate of their party, Atiku but could not agree to work together for one presidential candidate. It later became obvious that Wike was working for the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, now the President-elect.
Ortom also publicly announced the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi as his preferred choice. Unlike the Benue State governor, Ugwuanyi and Ikpeazu could not make their choice known publicly.
With the three governors contesting senatorial seats on the platform of the PDP and still working against their party’s presidential candidate secretly, it was difficult for them to separate their individual interests from the collective interest of their party. In other words they could not convince their supporters to vote against Atiku in the presidential election and vote for them in the senatorial election, in view of the unpopularity of the PDP in their states, and their perceived poor performance as governors.
It was therefore not surprising that Ugwuanyi, Ortom and Ikpeazu lost their senatorial ambitions in the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections.
Ugwuanyi who had spent 12 years in the House of Representatives for Udenu/Igbo Eze North Federal Constituency, and is completing his eight years in office as governor, lost his bid to go to the Senate to the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Okey Ezea.
The Labour Party senatorial candidate polled 104,492 votes to defeat the Enugu State governor, who scored 46,948 votes.
Ikpeazu also lost the Abia South senatorial district election to the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe.
Abaribe polled a total of 49,693 votes to defeat his closest rivals and the candidate of the Labour Party Mr. Chinedu Onyeizu, who got 43,903 votes while Ikpeazu polled 28,422 votes to take a distant third position.
On his part, Ortom also lost his senatorial bid to represent Benue South senatorial district to the candidate of the APC, Mr. Titus Zam.
Zam was Ortom’s Special Adviser on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs while they were together in the APC before the governor defected to the PDP in 2018.
The former Gwer-west LGA chairman polled 143,151 votes to defeat Ortom who scored 106,882 while Labour Party’s candidate, Mark Gbillah scored 51,950.
In Oyo State, the APC also defeated Makinde’s PDP in the presidential election.
Tinubu won in all the 33 LGAs in the state, while Atiku and Obi came second and third, respectively.
Tinubu’s victory in the PDP state has created anxiety in Makinde’s camp and whether this development will sweep Makinde out of office or not will be clearer after the March 11 governorship election.
On his part, Wike secured victory for the APC in the February 2023 elections under very controversial circumstances that led to massive protests by the supporters of the Labour Party.
It was gathered that even APC chieftains outside the state, who were only targeting 25 per cent of the votes in the state, were surprised that a traditional PDP state where the Labour Party was coasting home to victory with a landslide, was suddenly won by the APC.
Many believe that the Rivers State governor will become a magician if he secures the similar controversial results for the PDP in the March 11 governorship election.
With their attacks on the leadership of the PDP, which helped in demarketing the party across the country, Ugwuanyi, Ortom and Ikpeazu have paid the price for joining forces with Wike to weaken a party on whose platform they were contesting elections.
Political analysts believe that they committed political suicide by allowing Wike’s selfish interest to distract them, failing to concentrate their efforts on delivering on their campaign promises, building and strengthening the PDP, and mobilising the people of their states to vote for the party’s candidates at all levels.
