Makinde subtly pulling out of PDP G5, avoids Enugu meeting

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State appears to be subtly pulling out of the protesting group of five governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) demanding for the resignation of the PDP national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, and have in their protest declined participation of the presidential campaign of the party’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar. Makinde has, for the second, avoided the meeting of the PDP G5 in the past one week. First, he did not join the other four governors, who include Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State and Samuel Ortom of Benue State, when they visited Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, again, absent at the Friday meeting of the G5 in Enugu.

However, Makinde was said to have traveled out of Nigeria and will not be joining them for the Enugu meeting.

The other four governors, Nyesom Wike, Samuel Ortom, Okezie Ikpeazu, and  Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, held a meeting in Enugu on Friday, after the Bauchi meeting.

They had met to perfect their strategy in confronting the PDP to press home their demands.

Meanwhile, the avoidance of the G5 meeting by Governor Makinde has not been going without notice by other G5 members. The Oyo governor has in recent time been showing signs of leaning towards his kinsman, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), while the G5 continue their waiting game of arm twisting the PDP to remove Ayu as national chairman.

There were innuendoes of other four governors having sympathy for Peter Obi of the Labour  Party (LP), on the event of extreme dissociation from the PDP camapign if their demands are not met.

While the governors had disputed the innuendoes, Governor Makinde have been showing covert signs of having sympathy for the APC presidential candidate, Tinubu.

The Oyo  State Deputy Governor was ‘delegated’ to accompany Tinubu to Ondo State where he sought the endorsement of the factional Afenifere led by Pa Reuben Fasoranti.

The G5 is, however, yet to make any categorical statement of where their collect support would go at the end if the PDP negotiation fails.