Wike, Makinde, Ortom absent as PDP inaugurates presidential campaign council

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Wednesday, inaugurated its presidential campaign council.

Nyesom Wike, Samuel Ortom, and Seyi Makinde — governors of Rivers, Benue and Oyo — were absent at the inauguration event.

Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Okezie Ikpeazu, governors of Enugu and Abia, were also absent from the inauguration.

The inauguration comes hours after Atiku Abubakar, PDP presidential candidate, held a meeting with south-east stakeholders of the party — Ugwuanyi attended the meeting.

All PDP governors are members of the presidential campaign council.

The Wednesday event commenced with the launch of three books on Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the party, at the international conference cenre (ICC).

The books are ‘Restructuring as a Pathway to Unity and Development’, ‘The Story of Atiku Abubakar’, and ‘Landmark Constitutional Law Cases in Nigeria (2004-2007): The Atiku Abubakar Cases’.

Speaking at the event, Aminu Tambuwal, governor of Sokoto and chairman of the presidential campaign council, urged members of the council to be united in working for the victory of the party in the general election.

“The campaign council will serve as the vehicle to deliver the PDP and its presidential flagbearer to the villa on the 29th May, 2023, by the special grace of God,” Tambuwal said.

“All of us are going to hit the ground running and we shall work collectively as a family to ensure the victory of our party.

“The PDP, and indeed its candidate, is the party to beat in this election. It’s only for us to work and, God on our side, we shall deliver this victory to our party and to Nigerians.

“We believe INEC shall conduct free and fair elections. By so doing, victory by the grace of God is guaranteed for the PDP.”

In his remarks, Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the PDP, congratulated the members of the campaign council.

“I wish to congratulate all the men and women nominated to serve in the presidential campaign council,” he said.

“You have been selected from among the millions of our party members to join this esteemed council because of your past contributions to the party.

“Not all members of our party can be in the presidential campaign council, but every single member of the PDP is an important member, and each one of you is still entrusted with the responsibility of leading our party to victory in next year’s elections.

“I wish you all the very best in your endeavours and I welcome you all as you join me to lead the efforts to win next year’s general election and help rebuild our country.

“Together, as one, we can get this job done. May God guide and bless us all and may God guide and bless our dear country Nigeria.”

Other governors present included Darius Ishaku (Taraba), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), and Ifeanyi Okowa, who is also the vice-presidential candidate of the party.

Meanwhile, the absence of Wike, Ortom, and Makinde at the inauguration comes amid crisis in the party over calls for Iyorchia Ayu to resign from his position as PDP national chairman.