Thirty six days to the commencement of campaign for the February 25, 2023 presidential election, the race to occupy Aso Rock Villa, Nigeria’s Number One residence, has intensified.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor will be sworn in on May 29, 2023.
On Monday, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, met Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State in London, the United Kingdom.
The meeting, according to a source, “lasted for some hours and centered on getting Governor Wike’s support, especially in the South-South, to help Asiwaju Tinubu defeat his challengers in the presidential election”.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate; former Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, the Labour Party (LP) candidate; and others are also mobilising to get the highest votes, and spread across, at least, 24 states, to be declared Buhari’s successor.
Also at the meeting with Wike and Tinubu were PDP governors, such as Samuel Ortom (Benue), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), and other party chieftains.
Two promiment APC chiefs from the South-West also attended the meeting.
Since Atiku defeated Wike during the PDP primary in May, the Rivers governor has been fighting some leaders of the party “for selling him out”.
Said the source: “Details of the meeting will manifest first or second week of September before presidential campaign starts. There will be a realignment of forces, I can tell you that”.
But another source, who is very close to one of the governors at the meeting, said: “They are just playing politics. There is nothing to it. It happens that they are in London and Asiwaju and some APC people are also in London. When Asiwaju heard that they are in London, he requested for the meeting.
“It was Asiwaju who went to them. I can tell you that the governors are not leaving PDP. It was just a normal meeting involving politicians. From London, they are going to Spain. They are on holiday”.