“Our presidential candidate has reached out to me to further persuade governor Wike that he’s coming to see him”_ Ortom

Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has disclosed that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has expressed his intention to meet with the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike.

Ortom said this in an interview with a Nigeria-based international television station on Thursday disclosing that the recent happenings in the party have led to a division that may jeopardise the party’s success in the forthcoming general elections.

Reminiscing on the impasse, in May, the former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar clinched the PDP presidential ticket in the party’s convention in Abuja polling 371 votes to beat Wike, his closest challenger who secured 237 votes.

Speaking after he lost the presidential ticket, Wike had made references to “betrayal and conspiracy”.

In addition, Abubakar picked Ifeanyi Okowa the Delta State governor as his running mate contrary to the report of the 17-man panel of the party constituted to shop for his Vice Presidential candidate. Ortom had earlier said 14 out of 17 members of the panel voted in favour of the Rivers governor as the party’s VP candidate.

Wike, Ortom, and some other governors of the party were also absent during the party’s governorship campaign in Osun but Abubakar had dismissed a report of crisis within the party describing it as “social media drama”.

Speaking on the developments in the party, the Benue governor said Wike ought to have been pacified.

“Some of us believe in a southern presidency. We thought Wike would be the right person to get the ticket but he did not get it,” he said.

“Then the issue of vice-presidency came. I was one of the people that were able to convince Wike that ‘half a loaf is better than none; you wanted to be president, but God did not make it happen; there’s nothing wrong in asking to be the vice-president.’ Unfortunately, this did not work.

“I think that the leadership of the party needed to do the needful by reaching out to him immediately to pacify him. That is what happens in every political setting because in the end, you need everybody to be around you.

“We look forward that the leadership of the party will do the needful to bring all of us together. Our presidential candidate has reached out to me to further persuade Governor Wike that he’s coming to see him, they’ll sit down and discuss. For me, once that is done, that is the end of it.

“I believe that working together with governor Wike, we can achieve a better result for our party, the PDP. And so, I believe that our presidential candidate will reach out to Wike, and once they discuss and he’s pacified, I will also be pacified.”