GO AND BEG GOV WIKE — ORTOM URGES PDP

Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has encouraged the PDP leadership to visit Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State, and make a plea to him. 

He argued that Wike, a previous PDP presidential candidate, had been mistreated by the party. 

In addition, Ortom asserted that Wike was responsible for bringing him back to the PDP in 2015 after being unfairly treated. Ortom made this remark on Wednesday morning. 

Wike should require you to see him, not merely send calls to him. 

Wike was present on the ground when guests exited the gathering. When I was treated unfairly, Wike was the one who convinced me to rejoin the PDP. 

In 2015, he brought me back to PDP. Wike has been mistreated by you. He should be approached by the party and the federal level. To Atiku, he came in second. 

According to reports, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa's contentious choice of Wike as his running mate in the 2022 PDP presidential primaries and recent closed-door meetings with some of the party's top officials who paid a visit to his rural home. 

Just last week, the governor hosted a meeting at his private residence in Port Harcourt, the state capital, with Senator Bala Mohammed of the PDP, the governor of Bauchi State, Governor David Umahi of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian People's Party, and Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labor Party.

The trips followed a persistent rumor that Wike intended to leave the PDP after being rejected as Atiku Abubakar's running mate for the party's 2023 presidential nomination. 

Remember that Atiku won the May 28/29 presidential primary by receiving more than a thousand votes, defeating Wike and the other candidates. 

Wike, meanwhile, fled Nigeria's shores for a vacation in Turkey. 

On Tuesday, he posted some photos from his trip on his official Twitter account, including ones in which he was seen posing with Marcus Nlee, Boma Iyaye, his former Rivers State sports commissioner, and Okezie Ikpeazu from Abia State.