Wike, Makinde, Ikpeazu, Ortom jet out for meeting in Spain

Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, and his allies have travelled to Madrid, Spain for a meeting, TheCable has learnt.

Wike left the country early Saturday morning with Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue; Seyi Makinde of Oyo, and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia.

Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, governor of Enugu, who is also an associate of Wike is expected to join them later.

The development comes weeks after Wike and his allies met with Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in London.

Wike and his associates have been demanding the resignation of Iyorchia Ayu, national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after Atiku Abubakar won the party’s presidential ticket.

The call for Ayu’s resignation is on the grounds that the national chairman and the presidential candidate of the party cannot be from the same region.

TheCable reported how Wike and his loyalists boycotted the flag-off ceremony of the party’s presidential campaign for the 2023 elections.

Several efforts made by Atiku and the party’s leadership to reconcile with Wike’s camp have proved abortive.

On Friday, the board of trustees (BoT) of the PDP asked Ayu to assure members of the party that he will resign after the 2023 general election. 

The advice to Ayu was part of the resolutions of the PDP BoT reached on Friday at a meeting in Abuja.

Meanwhile, Wike has insisted that Ayu must step down before the presidential election, adding that it would be “foolish” to ask Ayu to resign after the polls have been concluded.