The G-5 is made up of five PDP governors — Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Seyi Makinde (Oyo) and Nyesom Wike (Rivers).
Bode George, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has ascribed the loss of the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the February 25, 2023, presidential election to the withdrawal of support by the PDP’s aggrieved governors under the umbrella of G-5 governors and other members of the party under Integrity Group.
The G-5 is made up of five PDP governors — Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Seyi Makinde (Oyo) and Nyesom Wike (Rivers).
The aggrieved governors formed an alliance after the party’s presidential primary was won by Atiku Abubakar in May 2022. They demanded that the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu should step down for a southern replacement as a precondition to support the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku in the February 25 poll.
They said it was unfair for the party to have northerners as its national chairman and presidential candidate.
George, during an exclusive interview with Saturday PUNCH, said Atiku lost the election because the PDP managers felt the Southern region of the country does not matter and having denied the Southern part of the country presidential ticket and other key positions in the party, they decided to withdraw their support.
Asked if the G-5 governors’ withdrawal of support for Atiku contributed to his loss, George who is a member of PDP’s Board of Trustees and as well as a member of the Integrity Group, said, “Of course, where did Peter Obi come from? Most of the people who got angry went away from the PDP; a divided house is a defeated house.
“You said the South-West doesn’t matter. If they added Obi’s votes to PDP’s, Tinubu would have been washed away. Divided we fall, and you can see it even with the manipulation that they did. The Labour Party won them because people are tired of the All Progressives Congress.
“If Obi and all those G-5 governors had come together to resolve this mismanagement by managers of the party when they put the cap of arrogance on their heads, I told them a divided house is a defeated house but that will be a story for another day.
“The arrogance, evil rant, and lacklustre attitude exhibited by them to forget about the tenets established by the founding fathers didn’t help the party and I said to them ‘If you don’t change this, I will not vote for him (Atiku).’”
Asked if he agrees with the former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose’s demand that the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, must resign, he said, “It is not a matter of aligning with that. I am an older person to both of them. I said let us have a post-mortem analysis.
“I will not discuss these people in the pages of newspapers. When the time comes and we get to the bridge we will cross it. There will be an analysis of the conduct of this election.”