Udom Emmanuel meets Wike amid PDP crisis

Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State on Saturday met with his Rivers counterpart, Nyesom Wike, in Port Harcourt.

Emmanuel and Wike, who both contested the Presidential Primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar in May, have reportedly not had a one-on-one meeting since then.

While Emmanuel is one of the campaign leaders of the PDP Presidential Candidate, Wike and his allies distanced themselves from the campaign of Atiku.

Under the G-5 banner, Wike and some aggrieved governors have been criticising Atiku and calling for the resignation of Senator Iyioricha Ayu as PDP National Chairman.

But on Saturday, Emmanuel in the company of Governor Samuel Ortom, a member of G-5, visited Wike, and the trio went into closed door meeting.

After the meeting, Wike said his relationship with Emmanuel had not diminished irrespective of their political difference.

He stressed that ideally politics should never be allowed to create unwarranted friction between brothers.

The Rivers State governor, who described the meeting as convivial, said it was completely devoid of politics.

“Politics is not what will divide brothers and divide friends. Everybody knows my relationship with Udom, and we will continue to maintain that relationship. We may different political affiliation or thinking, that should not divide the brotherly love or create a gap among us.”

On his part, Udom said his visit was not political, but a demonstration of brotherly love in the spirit of the yuletide season.

“Actually, this is the season of love. Within this period if we don’t demonstrate that love, love not shown is love wasted. I think that is what we are trying to demonstrate, brotherly love, friendship. And then in the spirit of the season, we must visit one another.”

Ortom explained that part of their discussion also centered on how they can best add value to governance in Nigeria.

“We are going into 2022 and we shared among ourselves how can we best add value to our government, how can we best add value to our people, how can we do things that will help add value to our country Nigeria.

“And that if there are any issues in the past which we have done wrong, we looked at it and said look let’s forgive one another and move forward. They are private issues.”