8th January, 2024
By Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja
A group of rebellious former governors of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP led by Nyesom Wike, popularly known as G5 has declared that they will support the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the rival All Progressives Congress, APC in 2027.
Wike as the governor of Rivers State supported the election of President Tinubu as the president in the 2023 election.
Wike, who began supporting Tinubu after he lost the presidential ticket of his party to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar had anchored his support for the opposition presidential candidate on the need for the presidency to return to the Southern part of the country after eight years of former President Muhammadu Buhari in power.
However, other members of the G5 Samuel Ortom of Benue, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Seyi Makinde (Oyo) were not frontal in their support for the presidential candidate of APC.
Though Tinubu won only in Rivers and Oyo out of the five states governed by the G5 governors to emerge as President, analysts said their rebellion was pivotal to the failure of the PDP presidential candidate in the 2023 election.
All the G5 governors are out of office having completed their two-term tenures in 2023, except Makinde who is now in his second term of office.
Wike, who has now been appointed the FCT Minister has repeatedly declared that he has no regret working against his party in the 2023 election by supporting Tinubu.
Ortom said the G5 has no regret for supporting Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 election.
As such, he declared that the group will again back the ex-Lagos governor for a second term in office as Nigeria’s President.
“If we work to ensure Bola Ahmed succeeds, there will be tomorrow for anybody to even contest the election at all.
“Our leader, Nyesom Wike, has already made a declaration that in 2027, we are supporting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“We have nowhere to go because that is what Nigerians believe. Even the past administration that took Nigeria from top to bottom, we allowed them to work for eight years.
“So, why can’t a seasoned administrator in the person President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rule us for eight years?” he asked, assuring Nigerians that Tinubu will fix security, economy and other critical areas of challenges to the citizens,” Ortom said to the crowd at the event made up of PDP and APC chieftains and associates of the FCT Minister.