Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike on Sunday, July 31st, 2022, met with some key members of his Political support base, including serving and former governors, behind closed doors, at the Rivers State Governors Lodge, Abuja, in what was apparently the inaugural coming together of the expanded caucus, after several select group informal meetings both in and outside the country.

Those present at the well attended meeting were Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Samuel Ortom of Benue State and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu state, amongst others, as well as former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, former governor of some Benue state Gabriel Suswam, former Ondo State governor Olusegun Mimiko, former Bayelsa state governor Seriake Dickson, Ibrahim Idris of Kogi state and former Plateau state governor Jonah Jang.

Also in attendance at the meeting were PDP National vice chairman South-South, Chief Dan Orbih, former PDP Deputy National Vice Chairman North, Suleiman Nazif, former Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Mohammed Adoke, member of the House of Representatives from Kogi State, Tijjani Yusuf, Senators Barry Mpigi and Olaka Nwogu from Rivers State, amongst other party members, mainly those who coordinated Governor Wike’s Presidential campaign.

Though the agenda of the meeting was not made public, political watchers will recall that Governor Samuel Ortom, of Benue state who has been at the centre of the reconciliation efforts, following the PDP Presidential Primaries intrigues and the fallout from the Vice Presidential selection process, had, in the last four eight hours, met separately with PDP Vice presidential candidate and Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi, as well as former Secretary the Federal Government, Engineer Babachir David Lawal and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara.

These meetings, which were held at Benue State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja and which poliity watchers had also interpreted as part of ongoing efforts by PDP to resolve the crisis that trailed the emergence of Governor Okowa as its vice-presidential candidate for 2023 election, had been veritable platforms which had hinted strongly at the convening of the inaugural Wike Presidential Campaign Council meeting.

Former Minister of Information and North Central Coordinator of the Wike Presidential campaign, Prof. Jerry Gana, in his brief but terse statement to journalists, disclosed that the group met to review the convention and other issues related to it thereto.

“This is the first meeting we are holding with all our candidates in the states after the primaries. We have frankly reviewed matters among ourselves; we want to confirm we are solidly together as a group.”

Gana who is also a member of the PDP Board of Trustees, added that “We know that developments will unfold and when they do, we shall brief Nigerians. We also want to let the nation know that we shall keep our people briefed as developments unfold.”