Atiku looks set to call Wike's bluff and name members of PDP Presidential Council Committee

PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar appears to be running out of patience with his main political rival Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and opt to move ahead without him according to close aides.

In late June, the PDP elected former vice president Alhaji Abubakar as its flagbearer for next year's presidential election at its annual convention. Governor Wike was a candidate in that election but he was beaten into second place and to make matters worse for him, he was not then picked as the party's running mate.

With Alhaji Abubakar opting to pick Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as his running mate, Governor Wike has been on the war path and there are now fears that he will dump the PDP. Among other things, he has been fraternizing with members of the ruling All Progressives Congress lately, amid talk of him possibly decamping.

With the party deeply divided, the Atiku camp has begun making overtures to Governor Wike but it appears that he is still very aggrieved. Over the weekend, a delegation of PDP past and present governors travelled to Port Harcourt but so far they have been unable to resolve all the issues and it appears that the former vice president is now prepared to cut his losses.

Following the perceived stalemate that characterised the reconciliation committee, indications emerged, yesterday, that Alhaji Abubakar may call the governor's bluff and announce the members of the PDP Presidential Council Committee. Already some loyalists of the Rivers governor were said to have started abandoning him.

Atiku had appointed a seven-man team led by Governor Fintiri of Adamawa State to hold discussions with Wike’s team, led by former information minister, Professor Jerry Gana. Both camps met in Port Harcourt over the weekend but a source familiar with the frosty relationship disclosed that the two camps have failed to shift grounds.

He added: “The reconciliation meeting between Atiku and Wike remains a stalemate. From our findings, the Atiku camp will ignore Wike and go ahead to announce the Presidential Campaign Committee.

”Once that is done, the Wike camp too will declare where they are heading because the Atiku camp is insisting that the Wike camp cannot hold them to ransom. The situation now is that Wike’s camp is insisting that Ayu must go but the PDP chairman has resisted that move.”