AFTER a tug of war between the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike in the build-up to the 2023 general election, Wike has finally agreed to support Atiku in the presidential election.

Wike’s resolution followed a closed-door emergency meeting held at the Rivers State governor’s lodge in Abuja on Sunday.

Daily Independent had earlier reported that Governor Wike met with PDP governors and other stakeholders of the party, who coordinated his campaign for the presidential ticket behind closed doors at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro in Abuja.

At the meeting, Wike and some chieftains of the party agreed to work for the success of the party’s presidential candidate after he and some of his colleagues who are in his camp agreed to remain in the party and work for Atiku’s victory in the forthcoming election.

Those at the meeting include Governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, former governor of Cross River state, Donald Duke; former governor of Benue state, Gabriel Suswam; former Ondo state governor, Olusegun Mimiko and former Bayelsa state governor, Seriake Dickson.

Others are the former governor of Kogi state, Ibrahim Idris; former Plateau state governor, Jonah Jang; former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, and Kano PDP governorship candidate, Mohammed Abacha.

Senate Minority Leader, Philip Aduda, was also at the meeting with some members of the PDP National Assembly caucus.

It could be recalled that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar polled 371 votes to emerge as the PDP’s flagbearer ahead of Wike who scored 237 votes to come second in the party’s presidential primary.

Weeks after the primary was held, the PDP presidential candidate named Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as his running mate.

This, however, led to a disagreement among party stakeholders as some commended the choice of Okowa while others rejected it, saying Atiku should have picked Wike who was the runner-up in the primary in the stead of his Delta counterpart.

In a bid to address the perceived grievances of the governor, the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP set up a reconciliatory committee to meet with Wike over the fallout of the party’s presidential primary and the crisis trailing the nomination of a running mate.