Attah Ede Makurdi
The rift in the People’s Democratic Party PDP has continued to worsen as Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State and his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike, on Monday, shunned the Presidential Candidate of the Party Alhaji Atiku Abubakar at the Makurdi Airport in Benue State.
Govenor Ortom had invited the leader of the five governors also know as integrity group, Nyesom Wike to commission the gigantic ultramodern edifice of Benue State Geographic Information System (BNSGIS), Makurdi.
However, Alhaji Abubakar was in Makurdi Airport enroute Lafia, Nasarawa State after he was denied landing permit at the Lafia Airport for his presidential campaign event in the on Monday.
The trio met at the Makurdi Airport and many believed Governor Ortom was at the airport to meet the PDP presidential candidate when he arrived about 20 minutes before his arrival.
However, five minutes later, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, the PDP vice presidential candidate, arrived at the airport and greeted Governor Ortom.
Governor Ortom now said, “So, you people would come to my state without telling me?”
A few seconds later, a plane touched down, and Governor Ortom quickly walked over to meet whoever was on board—who turned out to be Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike.
The two governors embraced and greeted each other before quickly getting into their car and drove away.
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, members of the Presidential Campaign Council, and the PDP national chairman arrived at the Makurdi Airport twenty minutes later.
He was only greeted by Governor Okowa and some party members; Ortom and Wike’s absence is a clear sign that the schism is still very much alive.
This incident coming just a day after Atiku Abubakar had said he had a meeting with Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike to address the ongoing problem inside the party without a solution.
“I have personally met Wike twice in Port Harcourt, twice in Abuja, and once in London, Atiku remarked on Sunday at the People’s Townhall.
Without exposing the main points of his conversations with the Rivers governor, he replied that it was not his fault that the crisis has persisted. “It is not on my part; it is on the other side; I am waiting for him.” He had said