. Fayose leads Fayemi, Sanwo-Olu, Akeredolu in closed door meeting with Rivers governor
Three state governors of the All Progressives Congress, on Friday, intensified efforts to woo Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike into the fold of the ruling party.
Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) in company with former Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, and others party chieftains, stormed the Ada George private residence of their Rivers counterpart.
The high-profile politicians, who did not disclose the agenda of the meeting to newsmen, immediately after their arrival, went into a close door meeting with Wike.
It’s was learnt that Fayose, who is of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party like Wike, led the APC governors and high profile politicians into the private meeting with the Rivers governor.
Recall that Fayose had recently insisted on the nation’s presidency returning to the South in 2023 following the PDP’s choice of Atiku Abubakar, a Northerner, as its presidential flagbearear.
Speculations have also been rife that Wike has been planning to defect to the APC, having lost the opportunity to be picked as vice presidential candidate to Atiku.
Last week, reports in the media claimed that the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, met with Wike in France. But Tinubu’s media office denied that such a meeting ever took place between the two politicians.
But Friday’s development was said to have caused some rumpus and further worries within the main opposition party on Friday.
Since Atiku announced his choice of the Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, as his running mate, the PDP had been battling to keep its fold intact.
The party leadership has been trying all means to placate Governor Wike and his camp to no avail.
The Friday closed door meeting between the APC governors and Wike, it was learnt, heightened the fears of the main opposition party that it may lose the Rivers governor and his camp to rival political parties ahead of the 2023 general elections.
To stem this tide, the PDP leadership was said to have summoned a meeting in Abuja on Friday night with the agenda focused on adopting new strategies to placate and dissuade Wike and his sympathisers from leaving the party.
The PDP leadership was said to have resolved to continue to engage Wike and his sympathisers on the need to remain within the fold with a focus on achieving the major objective of winning next year’s general elections, especially the presidential poll with a view to regaining power at the centre and increasing the political fortune of the main opposition party.
