G-5 Govs Are Political Terrorists, Can’t Be Trusted – APC Zonal Woman Leader, Princess Zahrah Audu
NORTH-CENTRAL Zonal Woman Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Princess Zahrah Zahrah Audu, has described the rebel Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors, popularly referred to as G-5, as “political terrorists” who try to hold everyone to ransom.
In an interview on new year’s eve, Princess Zahrah said she does not see any value the opposition governors can add to the APC.
The woman leader said that anyone who believes in the progressive ideology is welcome in the APC, but that the actions of these governors are more like that of terrorists trying to hold everyone to ransom.
“Personally, I do not see what value they will bring to the party as we have very strong stakeholders in most of their states. In Benue State, for example, we have H.E. Senator George Akume. We also have an extremely popular governorship candidate in Rev. Father Alia, so, of what value is Ortom to us? In Rivers State, we have H.E. Rotimi Amaechi and so many other critical stakeholders, what do we need Wike for? In fact, how can we trust such people?” she asked.
Princess Zahrah added that the G-5 governors’ style of politics is extremely unprincipled and should not be encouraged in Nigeria.
“It is a new low. I have never seen a governor holding a party ticket for the senate and publicly saying he will support another party for another position. It is a new low and it is not something that should be encouraged,” she said.
She called on the leadership of the ruling party and the presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to focus on the APC governors, candidates and stakeholders and not pay attention to the G-5, stressing that with or without their support the APC would win at the polls.
“What matters now is for all of us to go to the grassroots and work for our party. Personally, I don’t care about the G-5 governors.
Governor Wike, who is seen as the arrowhead of the G-5, had on different occasions during press conferences and interviews made it known that he remains in PDP and he will never leave the party he has contributed to since 1998. But recently, indications of the lingering crisis in the PDP have shown that things are not going in the favour of Wike and his co-travellers, who want the National Chairman of the PDP removed to pave the way for a Southern chairman.
Reports that the G-5 governors held a closed-door meeting with the presidential candidate of the APC in London with the possibility of working for the candidate of the APC have since been denied.
However, Princess Zahrah admonished the APC presidential candidate to “tread with caution when dealing with the G-5 governors to maintain the peace and cohesion the APC has been enjoying in these states, especially in Benue State where the party has major key actors who have put in their best for the party with someone coming on board to hijack the structure from them.”
“Although the victory of the party is very key as an election is won on numbers, we must not take the peace, cohesion, and stability of the party in these states for granted.”
She also said party leaders needed to recall the history of some of these governors like Ortom that won his governorship race on the APC platform after the ill-treatment meted out to him in PDP in 2015 and still returned to the PDP after riding on the horse of the APC to victory.
She further stated that the APC has sellable candidates in Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senator Kassim Shetima, insisting that the G-5 governors would not be a deciding factor in the party’s victory in the 2023 elections.
“The APC should not be a dumping ground for the rejected and disgruntled elements of the PDP who are outcasts in their party to take refuge and asylum in the APC without minding the danger they pose to the peaceful coexistence in the ruling party.
“These elections will not be about one leader telling people who to vote for, most of the leaders are not even sure who their immediate family members will vote for. Rather than spending time chasing the so-called G-5 governors, we should focus on gaining the hearts of the people at the grassroots and not with rallies alone but with more intimate engagements.”
She also stressed that engaging with these governors publicly is extremely bad for APC candidates in those states.
