The Committee will be led by the presidential candidate of the Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has constituted a reconciliation committee to appease Governor Nyesom Wike of River State over the choice of his Delta State counterpart, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa as the party’s vice-presidential candidate in 2023.
The Committee will be led by the presidential candidate of the Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
PDP Board of Trustees Chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin, who announced the formation of a reconciliation committee on Sunday, said their first assignment is to visit Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, whom he described as a responsible and obedient member of the party.
Jibrin also said Wike had assisted in the building of the party.
Jibrin, in a statement made available to newsmen in Kaduna, said as soon as Atiku and the national chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, returned to the country, the process of reconciling all aggrieved members would commence with Atiku as the head of the committee.
The BoT chairman listed members of the committee to include himself; Atiku, Okowa, Ayu and his National Working Committee members; representative of the BoT; the 13 governors of the PDP; former governors; and former ministers belonging to the PDP.
He urged members of the party to shun divisive comments capable of causing conflicts within the party and pushing some members to defect to other parties.
The statement read, “We view with great concern and great sense of feeling the various recent comments coming from some of our PDP members and some prominent Nigerians on the choice of Chief Okowa, the Governor of Delta State as the vice-presidential candidate, by the presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of our party, PDP, the biggest party not only in Nigeria but the whole of Africa.
“All the comments and various submissions are very normal in any political set-up in Nigeria today with PDP being the strongest and most prominent party that has all potential to form government in 2023.
“But we must come back to our senses by all our members and all most responsible and respectful Nigerians by giving total support to the party to enable it form government by holding all political positions in Nigeria in 2023.
“It is, therefore, very necessary that when our presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and our national chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu return to Nigeria very soon from abroad, the following must be done immediately:
“A very important visit must be undertaken to Governor Wike comprising the following group:
“The above committee should be headed by the presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.”
Wike, who lost the presidential ticket of the opposition PDP to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, is said to be having a long battle with his party after losing the Vice-President’s slot to Governor Okowa.
In a Facebook post last Thursday, Joe Igbokwe, an APC chieftain in Lagos, claimed Wike met with the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu in France.
“While they are on social media abusing everybody, Governor Wike goes to France to meet Asiwaju. Abuse, calling names, hate, and bigotry are no strategy. They have hated and abused PMB (President Muhammadu Buhari) since 2015 and now they have transferred the aggression to Asiwaju. We wait and see,” he had written in a now-deleted post.
Hours after Igbokwe’s post was pulled down, Wike on his Twitter handle simply shared a picture of himself in Turkey with the caption, “Thankful for a fine evening.”
Tinubu had earlier left for France after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, last Monday.
Some hours after Tinubu left the country, Wike released pictures where he was seen vacationing with his Abia counterpart, Okezie Ikpeazu, in Turkey.
SaharaReporters on Thursday reported that Atiku’s choice of Okowa as his running mate had degenerated into an internal crisis in the PDP.
One of Wike’s associates and friends, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, had said he was still praying and fasting to know if God wanted him to support Atiku or not.
SaharaReporters also reported that the former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, made it clear that he was for the Southern presidency or nothing, which was an indication that he would not be supporting Atiku for the presidency.