In an interview on the 31st of December 2022, when asked about her views about the G-5 Governors joining the APC, she said “Anyone who believes in the progressive ideology is welcome in the APC but the actions of theses Governors are more like terrorist trying to hold everyone to ransom.
Personally I don’t see what value they will bring to the party as we have very strong stakeholders in most of their states, In Benue for example we have H.E George Akume, we also have an extremely popular candidate for Governor Rev. Father Alia, so what value is Ortom to us? In Rivers we have H.E Amechi and so many other critical stakeholders, what do we need Wike for? Infact how can we trust such people.
She went on to say that this style of Politics that the G-5 Governors are playing is extremely unprincipled and not something that should be encouraged in Nigeria, it is a new low. I have never seen where a Governor is holding a party ticket for Senate and publicly saying they will support another party for another position, it’s a new low and it is not something that should be encouraged.
She called on the leadership
Of the APC and the Presidential Candidate to please focus on the APC Governors, candidates and stakeholders and not pay any mind to the G-5 as with or without their support the APC will win at the polls.
What matters now is for us to all go to the grassroot and work for our party. Personally I don’t care about the G-5 Governors
Governor Wike, who is seen as the arrowhead of the G5 had on different occasions during Press releases and interviews made it known that he remains in PDP and he will never leave the party he has contributed to since 1998. But recently, indications of the lingering crisis in the PDP have shown that things not going in the favour of Wike and his cohorts, who want the National Chairman remove to pave way for the Southern chairman.
Unconfirmed reports and speculation that the G5 Governors held a closed-door meeting with the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in London with the possibility of working for the candidate of the APC.
She went on to say the presidential candidate of the APC should tread with caution when dealing with the G-5 Governors to maintain the peace and cohesion the All Progressives Congress have been enjoying in these states, especially in Benue where the party has major key actors who have put in their best for the party with someone coming on board to hijack the structure from them.
Although the victory of the party is very key as election is won on numbers, we must not take for granted the peace , cohesion, and stability of the party in these states.
She also said it was necessary for our leaders to recall the history of some of these Governors like Ortom that won his governorship race on the APC platform after the ill-treatment meted at him in PDP in 2015 and still returned to the PDP after riding on the horse of the APC to victory.
She further stated that the APC has sellable candidates in H.E Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and H.E Kassim Shetima and the G-5 would not be a deciding factor in the party’s victory in the 2023 elections.
The APC should not be a dumping ground for the rejected and disgruntled elements of the PDP who are outcasts in their party to take refuge and asylum in the All Progressives Congress without minding the danger they pose to the peaceful coexistence in the APC.
These elections will not be about and one leader telling people who to vote for, most of the leaders are not even sure who their immediate family members will vote for, rather than spending time chasing the so called G-5 Governors we should focus on gaining the hearts of the people at the grassroot, and not with rallys but with more intimate engagements.
She also stressed that engaging with these Governors publicly is extremely bad for our candidates in those states.
