The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, and his allies in the Governors Samuel Ortom of Benue State; Seyi Makinde of Oyo State; Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State; Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State on Wednesday boycotted the inauguration of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Council and book launch in honour of the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Africa Today News, New York reports that another surprising absentee from the event was the National Chairman of the PDP who, according to the Deputy National Chairman (North), Umar Damagum, was absent as a result of ill-health.
Other PDP governors believed to be loyal to the party’s presidential candidate were, however, in attendance.
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They include: Governors Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State; Diri Duoye of Bayelsa State; Godwin Obaseki of Edo State; Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State; Darius Ishaku of Taraba State; Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State; and Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State.
The Delta State governor and running mate to Atiku, Ifeanyi Okowa, was also present at the event.
In a related development, former Vice President and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, had begged the South-East leaders to prevail on their youths to end the Monday sit-at-home in the region, lamenting that it had seriously affected the economy of the country.
Atiku, who made the appeal in Enugu on Tuesday when he met with South East Stakeholders of the party, promised to resolve all their agitations if elected president in the 2023 presidential election.
The former Vice President stated that he is seeking the presidency to reunify Nigeria and improve the economy of the country, adding that he will provide efficient leadership that would grantees justice, equity and fairness to all.
He said ‘The last few weeks have been a difficult one for me but I know we must succeed together and win election come 2023 as my five priorities if I emerge as the president of this nation is to reunify the country, revive the economy, improve security, restructure the federation and improve human capital development.
‘It’s unfortunate that our country is divided today which has never been like this so it is our responsibility to reunify our country through equity, justice and fairness to develop our country and improve our people’s lives as this will give every region in this country a sense of belonging.
‘We will provide efficient and good governance to protect the lives and properties of our people because without security life is meaningless and the economy will be in bad shape as investors will flee from our nation and that is why security will be a top priority for the government that I lead.
‘Our task is a collective one to build a strong nation and I promise we carry everybody along. The task before us is highly demanding but we must win the election in 2023.’
He appreciated south-East leaders for their arrangement and support to ensure PDP wins the election in 2023