In a move to save their political career to remain relevant in Nigeria’s politics, the G5 Governors, also o known as the Integrity Group on Thursday visited President Bola Tinubu.
The G5 are the five aggrieved governors and immediate past governors who are members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
They comprise of Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, immediate past Governors Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu).
Both Atiku and Ayu called the then governors’ bluff and did not succumb to their demands in the just-concluded elections.
The G5 members who have vowed never to support the candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, had promised to announce their preferred candidate for the 2023 presidential election.
A few months into the general elections, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu struck a deal with the G-5 to endorse him and put their weight behind him going into the elections.
The meeting was held in December at the London residence of the APC presidential candidate.
Makinde and Wike reportedly played supportive roles to ensure Tinubu’s victory at the polls.
However, the G-5 members who visited President Bola Tinubu in Aso Rock said the visit was to brief him on the latest happenings and the group’s stance on fairness, equity, and justice in the country.
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State while speaking to journalists after the meeting acknowledged that nation building is a difficult task and demands constant evaluation.
The G5, according to him, will keep meeting with the President on the way forward for the country.
He said, “Nation building is a very difficult task. You have to keep evaluating, you know what you’re doing, where you’re going. So, we have to keep seeing the President, you know, to let him know what is happening.
“The G-5, the Integrity Group, came to let the President know what we stood for fairness, justice, and equity.
The current governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah was also present.
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, in the last election, Omoyele Sowore, slammed the members of the G-5 over their recent meeting with President Bola Tinubu.
Sowore in a tweet on his official handle, name the former governors “Hustlers United, alleging that “Wike is now dealing with the reality of his wicked and corrupt existence.”
The tweet reads, “FROM G-5 TO G-STRING: HUSTLERS UNITED! From so-called Powerful “G-5” Governors to Perforated G-String Ex-Governors (except for Makinde who is a serving governor).
“The hustle is real. @GovWike is now dealing with the reality of his wicked and corrupt existence, just like the ex-Abia Gov. Isi-Slippers, and that loudspeaker and Mr. Do-Nothing from Benue who used “Fulani” as an excuse to never get anything done, not even salaries of his workers. Like the Bourbons of France, “They had learned nothing and forgotten nothing,” Sowore wrote.