A former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe, had on Thursday joined several other politicians who may have been mounting pressure Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after losing the party’s presidential ticket to Atiku Abubakar at the national convention. Like others, who include Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, former minister Orubebe, who had resigned from the PDP earlier in the week, visited Governor Wike at his country home in Port Harcourt, perhaps to deepen the lobby and increase the pressure on the governor to defect from the PDP.
Orubebe before visiting Governor Wike, had in a letter dated June 20, 2022, to the PDP National Chairman, lyorchia Ayu, indicated his resignation from the party, protesting that the PDP is not ready to wrest power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023.
Orubebe has been facing investigation and prosecution on allegations of corruption under the Buhari administration since he left office in 2015.
However, prominent PDP leaders and close allies of Governor Wike, who include Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi, Senate Minority leader Aduda and other PDP principal officers in the Senate, had also visited Wike in Port Harcourt to counter the lobby of the political intruders into the PDP courting the Rivers State governor.