Obasanjo, Obi, Wike, others meet in London 

FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo reportedly met on Thursday in London with the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential election and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State as part of the intense horse-trading preparatory to the poll. 

No fewer than three other governors elected on the ticket of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP): Seyi Makinde of Oyo State; his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom and Dr Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, also attended the meeting. 

The trio, who are close allies of Wike, were among other prominent persons, including a former governor of Cross River State, Mr Donald Duke, that were also at the meeting, details of which could not be obtained at press time on Thursday. 

It is the first such meeting involving Obasanjo, Obi and Wike since the latter fell out with the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, after he picked Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate for the general election. 

However, the belief was that the deliberations were part of the frantic moves on the possibility by the forces to build a rainbow coalition, weeks to the commencement on September 28, of the campaign for the forthcoming general election in the country. 

Obasanjo is believed to be among the chief promoters of Obi’s presidential bid, a former Anambra State governor, for the presidency, has hosted the former governor of Anambra State at least three times at his Top Hill residence in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. 

In July, Obasanjo played host to Obi shortly after the latter unveiled his running mate, Yusuf Baba-Datti, ostensibly for the endorsement of the ex-president of the Labour Party ticket.

Featuring on a live interview programme on television, Obi had said there was nothing wrong in Obasanjo championing his bid to become the next president of the country. 

Ironically, apart from canvassing for a younger president in the next dispensation, Obasanjo once said the next president should be imbued with the mental capacity to tackle issues on economy. 

And at a ceremony to commemorate his 85th birthday, the former leader had said some presidential aspirants should have been in jail if the anti-graft agencies had done their jobs effectively. 

“I cast a cursory look at some of the people running around and those for whom people are running around. If the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Commission (ICPC) had done their jobs properly and supported adequately by the judiciary, most of them would have been in jail. Any person who has no integrity in small things cannot have integrity in big things,” he said. 

Nonetheless, the two-time Nigerian leader has also hosted the standard-bearer of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, and at a time, Atiku, his former vice, prior to his emergence as the candidate of PDP at the primary. 

Meanwhile, Atiku and Wike have also met in London towards resolving the face-off over some issues arising from the choice of a running mate. 

It was learnt that the governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Fintiri, was among PDP leaders at the reconciliation meeting. 

Atiku was quoted as saying that the Rivers governor was working for the overall victory of the PDP in next year’s general election.

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