Tinubu meets Ibori, Wike, Makinde in Aso Villa

President Bola Tinubu is meeting with James Ibori, former governor of Delta state; Nyesom Wike, the immediate past governor of Rivers state; and Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo state.

The meeting is taking place at the president’s office in Aso Villa.

The trio arrived at the presidential villa at about 4:20pm on Friday.

Ibori, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was in office when Tinubu was governor of Lagos state between 1999 and 2007.

Wike and Makinde are members of the G5, a group of five PDP governors which also include former Benue state governor Samuel Ortom; Okezie Ikpeazu, former governor of Abia; and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, immediate past governor of Enugu.

The governors fell out with the PDP leadership after Atiku Abubakar won the party’s presidential ticket. They refused to support his presidential bid, arguing that his election goes against the agreement to zone the presidency to the south.

The G5 governors had also called on Iyorchia Ayu to step down as the national chairperson of the PDP.

Among the G5 governors, Makinde won reelection as governor while three others – Ortom, Ikpeazu, and Ugwuanyi – failed in their bids to secure senatorial seats.

Sim Fubara, Wike’s preferred candidate, won the election to succeed him as Rivers governor.

In May, after the presidential poll, Tinubu said he could not have won without the support of Wike.

“I went through a gruesome campaign, fought hard, supported by many of you and I won. Fair and square. Nyesom, I say thank you for your contribution to my victory,” he said during a visit to Rivers.

“I couldn’t have done it without some structural support you gave me which I can’t describe (repay) in my honouring of your invitation to commission this flyover.”

On March 1, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu as the winner of the election with 8,794,726 votes.

Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) are contesting his victory in court.