Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Walid Jibrin
2023 Presidency: PDP BoT chairman wades into Wike, Dokpesi war of words
Following the diatribe that has raged between the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and Leader of the Technical Committee for the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, over the 2023 Presidential ticket and zoning, the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Walid Jibrin, has waded into the rift, urging all the party’s aspirants to maintain decorum over their political ambitions.
The latest clash between Wike and High Chief Dokpesi was sparked off earlier in the week, when the Rivers Governor alleged that the South South PDP chieftain, Dokpesi was ‘a mole working for APC.’
Responding to the rift between the two chieftains of the party, Sen. Jibrin, Friday, in Ilorin during the turbaning ceremony of former National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje as the Tafida of Ilorin by the Emir, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, said the party would come out with its position on the matter soon.
“I want to urge all our presidential aspirants to be calm about their presidential aspirations. To us, the country comes first, and we will soon come out with our position on the presidential contest for all our aspirants; this is very important. And another vital thing is that zoning will go to any party of the country,” the senator added.
Wike, while denying rumours that he and other Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors traveled to Europe recently to determine the 2023 presidential and vice candidates of the party, had accused High Chief Raymond Dokpesi of circulating the rumours within chieftains of the party.
Governor Wike made the comment on Thursday, February 17 in Port Harcourt while speaking to journalists, as he also warned Dokpesi against rumor-mongering.
He said PDP governors have been inundated with calls following a text message being peddled by that some governors had embarked on the trip to handpick its 2023 candidates.
Wike said: “I have some suspicion that people like Raymond Dokpesi are not really sincere to the Peoples Democratic Party and I think, I’m convinced that Raymond Dokpesi appears to be working for APC.
“I don’t understand where Raymond Dokpesi gets this information, this rumour that governors travelled to Europe to decide who will be the presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate of PDP.”
It would also be recalled that earlier in February, Wike had lambasted Dokpesi for claiming that there was never an existing zoning arrangement in the party for the presidential ticket, even as the latter also declared that his principal would govern for only one term before handling over to the South East region.
Making the clarification during an interactive session with some stakeholders at the Government House Port Harcourt, February 1, Wike urged Nigerians to disregard the report.
The Rivers governor berated the party chieftain for ‘arrogating the power of the party to himself.’
“At the level of Dopkesi, he said he is a high chief; going to television to tell people that there is no zoning. I can’t believe this. Even if somebody is to say it. Is he the one to say it?
“And he has arrogated the power of the party to himself saying when Atiku wins, he will hand over to the South East. Is that not the decision of the party? So the party cannot make a decision at all, Dokpesi has zoned it”.
