- Enugu State Gov, Peter Mbah In Attendance
PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu earlier today met with a group of aggrieved politicians within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) fondly known as the G-5 or the Integrity Group.
In attendance at the meeting held in Aso Rock are a serving governor and four former governors within the party. They include Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu).
The current governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah was also present.
The G-5, who were all two-term governors, except Makinde, before four of them handed over on 29 May 2023, formed an alliance after the party’s presidential primary in May 2022 to demand that the then PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu step down for a southern replacement as a precondition to support the presidential ambition of the party’s standard-bearer, Atiku Abubakar in the 25th February poll.
Both Atiku and Ayu called the then governors’ bluff and did not succumb to their demands in the just-concluded elections.
Ortom, Ikpeazu, and Ugwuanyi tried to cross over to the Senate but the trio lost their senatorial bids in the 25 February presidential and National Assembly elections. Only Makinde won an election among G-5 members.
President Tinubu has met with Wike and Makinde before now and after the elections on more than one occasion.
For the presidential election, Atiku lost in all the G-5 states while Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi won Enugu and Abia, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) raked in Oyo, Benue and Rivers, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The former Lagos State governor came out tops in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states and secured significant numbers in several other states to claim the highest number of votes of 8,794,726, almost two million votes more than his closest rival, Atiku.
Atiku, 76, who has now run for president six times, got 6,984,520 votes, while Obi, who, in less than a year mobilized young voters, finished third in the race with 6,101,533, according to figures released by INEC.
Eighteen-Eleven Media