A silent war has broken out in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP as the party’s governors and chieftains project configurations to outsmart the All Progressives Congress, APC in the 2023 General Election.

In the latest development, a crack has emerged among the governors with a camp including Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State demanding the resignation of Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as chairman of the PDP Governors Forum. The demand, it was gathered, was based on the insistence that he cannot be chairman of the influential Governors’ Forum and be a participant in the contest for the party’s presidential ticket. 

Wike, another source said, has been in the vanguard of stabilising the party, saying ‘but for him Uche Secondus would have remained as chairman of the party and by now the party would have been hijacked by those who have little or no regards for party principle with regard to zoning”.

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The source said that “God is using Wike to stabilise PDP.” 

Meanwhile, the expectation that the powerful clique of retired generals would again back Atiku Abubakar as it did in 2019 may have been dashed with claims that Senator Bukola Saraki may have become the darling of the retired generals.

The division in the top hierarchy of the PDP according to inside sources may have broken the unity of the governors. While the governors remain united in removing the APC from the presidency, they are divided on strategy with zoning increasingly becoming an issue among some of the governors.

UGAMATV reports that Governor Wike has been especially trenchant on the need for the presidential candidate to be picked from the Southern part of the country.

The division among them was sharpened earlier in the week with the announcement by Tambuwal, chairman of the PDP Governors Forum that he would be consulting on his 2023 presidential prospects.

That announcement, it was gathered, has ruffled some feathers and reportedly including Wike who have asked him to resign as the chairman of the Governors Forum.

“You cannot be chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and be part of the process that you will be expected to arbitrate,” a source privy to the angst of the governors told Journalists .

Ugamatv reports that Governor Wike was a major supporter of Tambuwal’s presidential bid in 2019 but has not shown a similar inclination ahead of 2023 with the Rivers State governor increasingly backing south to produce the candidate on the basis of equity, justice and fair play.

Governor Wike had earlier this week indicated that he was the best person to lead the party to victory in 2023.

Tambuwal had on Monday announced his decision to initiate a nationwide consultation for the 2023 presidency.

His announcement was followed a day later by a terse rebuff by Wike who insisted that it was the turn of the South to produce the president of the country in 2023.

Without mentioning his onetime best friend, Tambuwal at a meeting with political stakeholders in Port-Harcourt last Tuesday, Wike had said:

“It’s not to come out to say you’re consulting. You’re consulting, yet, you’ve declared. Is it not after consultation that you declare. You’ve already declared and you say you’re consulting. What are you consulting again then.

“And people take the South for granted saying that they are not together. No problems. If we don’t know yesterday, today we know.”

Affirming the capacity of the Rivers State political machine and nay, the South to swing the pendulum, he added:

“When we come out, we will choke them. They know it. So, everybody should relax, let the south do their homework and then they’ll make a proper statement.”

The 2019 collaboration between Wike and Tambuwal to produce the latter as the PDP presidential candidate was turned in its head by the last minute intervention of retired generals who pitched camp with Atiku to clinch the ticket under Wike’s nose in Port-Harcourt.

However, sources indicate that the generals so famed as (the owners of Nigeria) comprising some former heads of state and influential retired generals may be looking beyond Atiku this time. Senator Bukola Saraki it was gathered may have become the toast of the retired generals as evidenced by developments in Minna earlier this week when Atiku visited.

It was reported that Atiku visited General Ibrahim Babangida in his Minna residence on Tuesday, February 1, 2022, and there was no communique issued at the end of the meeting.

However, two days later, a group of emissaries from Saraki were with the former military president during which he gave an elaborate endorsement of Saraki as the “best for Nigeria.”

Though Babangida had also endorsed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, it was the first time that he would endorse a PDP presidential gladiator.

Babangida who described Saraki as “Self Propelled artillery gun,” said the former Senate President has what it takes to lead Nigeria.

He said: “I’m glad to have found people who have defined who a true Nigerian leader should be. This definition was lacking. Am happy you have identified someone who can do the job. The narrative has to change. I know your client very well. I am part of him. His father was very close to me.

“You have zeroed on a good candidate. I call him SP. In the artillery, we have a Self Propelled gun called SP with strategic responsibility and functions. That is who he is.”

Besides the age factor that is being raised against Atiku, Saraki’s emergence from the North Central with cross cultural affinity between the North and South is said to also be strengthening his ascendancy.