TheCable

Sources close to the south-east mandate, a body tasked with actualising the ‘Igbo presidency project’, have condemned Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, governor of Enugu, and Okezie Ikpeazu, governor of Abia, for endorsing Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections. 

On Sunday, Wike, during a visit to Benue to consult stakeholders of the PDP in the state, declared his intention to run for president in the 2023 general election, expressing confidence in the party’s victory.

According to the sources, the governors endorsed Wike on Sunday at an Enugu state special PDP stakeholders’ meeting organised by Ugwuanyi.

“At the prompting of Ugwuanyi, the meeting adopted a resolution to endorse Wike as their candidate for the PDP presidential ticket for the 2023 election. Shortly after, the two governors, manouvered the south-east zonal executive committee meeting, held on Sunday March 27 at Enugu state government house, to adopt a resolution calling for the zoning of the presidential ticket of the PDP to the south, a move which fits nicely into Wike’s game plan. There was no mention of the south-east,” one of the sources said.

“Unsuspecting participants of the Enugu meeting are already expressing regret at the betrayal of the Igbo Presidency Project. The south-east mandate is hereby calling on Ndigbo to rise and condemn this act of betrayal by Ugwuanyi and Ikpeazu. We demand that all political parties in the country pick their 2023 presidential candidates from the southeast. The south-east region has sacrificed a lot and must be allowed to produce the next president of the country.”

Another source added that, “it is particularly insulting to the sensitivities of the south-east, that Wike has serially denied any sociocultural affiliations with the Igbos, but the two PDP governors in the zone have been bought over by the legendary generosity of the Rivers state governor who by our account, spontaneously made N50 million available to the meeting at Enugu, for ‘kolanuts’, in exchange for his jaundiced, inconsequential endorsement”.

Ahead of the PDP presidential convention on May 28, the zoning of the party’s presidential ticket has remained a contentious issue.

While some party stakeholders have called for the zoning of the presidential ticket to the south, Bukola Saraki, former senate president, and Aminu Tambuwal, governor of Sokoto, recently agreed on a consensus northern candidate.