Ever since Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike lost the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential ticket to Atiku Abubakar, the man has seemingly had only one mission — make Atiku’s campaign a living hell.
What has Wike not done to achieve this goal? From catchy Atiku diss tracks with his merry live band, to publicly flirting with other presidential candidates such as Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Wike has gone to all lengths to disgrace Atiku.
But his most effective weapon seems to be the G5. What is the G5, how successful has it been, and where is the G5 now?
Meet the G5
The G5 Governors [The Cable]
‘The G5’ are a group of five high-profile governors in the PDP that have gone rogue and no longer support their party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
This is due to their belief that the PDP’s regional composition is biased against the South, with a Northern presidential candidate and a Northern party chairman, Iyorchia Ayu. Thus, they’ve only had one condition for supporting Atiku — Ayu should step down as party chairman and let a Southerner have his place.
Atiku Abubakar and Iyorchia Ayu
But Ayu has refused to budge from his PDP throne, and Atiku has begged the G5 to reconsider, as he does not have the authority to sack him outright.
But the G5 are refusing to let the sleeping dogs lie, and left the Atiku support train. Even three of these governors have been reported to fully endorse Peter Obi.
The G5 governors are Nyesom Wike of Rivers State (the ringleader), Samuel Ortom (Benue State), Seyi Makinde (Oyo State), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia State) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu State).
How successful has the G5 been?
The answer is not quite.
Since the emergence of the group in September 2022, they have only been seen making fashion statements with their uniforms at public events and fleeting between war and reconciliation talks with PDP leadership. And even those have not been happening recently.
Their chances of swaying the polls ahead of the 2023 elections have drastically reduced. This is due to Obi’s growing influence amongst citizens of their states, with opinion polls such as Bloomberg giving the candidate’s chances of winning as high as 60%.
Worst of all, the G5 governors seem to be losing their resolve on hating Atiku.
Ugwuanyi, for instance, recently welcomed Atiku to Enugu state, where he had a rally. Today, Seyi Makinde’s wingman, Hosea Agboola, just became chairman of Atiku’s presidential council in Oyo State. And even Benue governor, Samuel Ortom, attended Atiku’s Benue rally on February 7. This was with his full entourage consisting of the deputy governor, aides and even local government chairmen.
This has caused many to speculate that their agenda is ‘dead’, according to a member of the PDP Presidential Campaign.
What’s Next for the G5?
However, Wike has come out to assure the public that their reign of terror is not yet over. According to him, the group is yet to release their February 25 election strategy.
Will the G5 cause havoc on Election Day? Or will the will of the people be affirmed? We will know on February 25.
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