The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has resolved to punish a faction of the party known as the Integrity Group (G5), led by the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, after the 2023 general elections.
Naija News reports that the G5, including Governor Wike, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Samuel Ortom (Benue), and Seyi Makinde (Oyo), has been at loggerheads with the main body of the PDP since last year after the party’s presidential primary elections.
The aggrieved governors were pained that the party did not zone its presidential ticket to the South, they are also against the position of the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, who is a northerner.
Ayu’s resignation was part of their demand to at least support the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the 2023 election, else, threatened to boycott the party’s national campaigns which they have maintained. 
Naija News understands that the G5 governors have since pitched their tents with their preferred presidential candidates.
Governor Makinde and Wike were said to be aligning with the All Progressives Congress candidate, Bola Tinubu. Benue State’s Ortom on the other hand has openly endorsed the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, even as Ikpeazu and Ugwuanyi are reportedly torn between Atiku and Obi.
In a statement, however, on Tuesday, the National Working Committee of the PDP sees the presidential elections as a massive task and has decided to deal with the alleged anti-party activities of the G5 governors after the polls.
Reports according to the PUNCH revealed that Ayu is planning to wield the big stick after the polls to demonstrate the party’s supremacy in line with the PDP constitution.
A member of the PDP National Executive Committee and former governor of a North-West state who reportedly spoke with the news platform said the action of the aggrieved governors infuriated party stakeholders across the board, warning that failure to call them to order would raise a lot of questions from loyal members of the party.
The NEC member said, “We watched every day how these leaders ridiculed the party. Nobody said they had no reasons to be aggrieved, but we generally agreed that there were other ways to speak on the issues than the way they did.
“When the elders (Board of Trustees) intervened, we all thought the crisis was over, but it only got worse. We expect some sanctions, although the leadership of the party will set in motion what to do with them.
“At the NEC, it was nothing short of a disgrace to wake up to see governors dancing not in solidarity with their party but with rival parties to cast aspersions on the same PDP that catapulted them to national prominence.
“It’s a good thing that Ayu is focused on the elections, but we would like to see what happens after that.”
When contacted, the PDP’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, could not directly confirm the fate of the Integrity Group, but told reporters that “We will wait until it is confirmed what the party intends to do.”
The Full Wrath Of The Law Will Fall Upon Them
On his part, the Deputy National Youth Leader of the party, Timothy Osadolor, told journalists that sanction for the aggrieved governors “is not a question of if but when.”
He said: “How else could they have worked against the party than they have already? If they didn’t know that there would be sanctions, they wouldn’t be running to their states’ High Courts to procure ex-parte orders, but they are merely buying time.
“They know that they have erred, and the full wrath of the law will fall upon them. It’s not a matter of if, but of when.”
Osadolor added, “When the dust of elections is over, the party will revisit the issue. The party is supreme. Head or tail, their issue will be treated.”
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