President Bola Tinubu on Thursday met with a group of aggrieved governors within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) known as the G5 or the Integrity Group.
In attendance at the meeting at the Aso Rock are one serving governor and four former governors within the party.
They include Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State as well as former Governors Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu).
The current governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah was also present.
It would be recalled that the G5, who were all two-term governors before four of them handed over on May 29, 2023, allied the party’s presidential primary in May 2022 to demand that the then PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu step down for a southern replacement as a precondition to support the presidential ambition of the party’s flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar who was also from the North with Ayu in the February 25 poll. Both Atiku and Ayu called the then governors’ bluff and did not succumb to their demands in the just-concluded elections.
Interestingly, Ortom, Ikpeazu, and Ugwuanyi attempted to cross over to the Senate which has been described as a ‘retirement home’ for former governors but the trio lost their senatorial bid in the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections. Only Makinde won an election among G5 members.
