PT Race Status: What does Obasanjo want as Wike trains Tinubu, Atiku, Obi in London?
Nigerians found themselves feeding on scraps from afar last week as their political leaders took their scheming for the 2023 presidential election across the Atlantic.
Between Monday and Thursday, Governor Nyesom Wike, who has so far managed to establish himself as the central figure in the election despite his elimination in the primaries, dragged his group of disgruntled Peoples' Democratic Party ( PDP) in a quick series of meetings in London with the three main presidential candidates.
And rather than the main leaders of the PDP, which includes six governors and former governors, being reprimanded for their clearly anti-party activities, their party was quite happy that its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, was allowed to take his turn at screening.
Ironically, Nigerians were still enthralled with both the substance and the subterfuge of another drama, staged on their own soil in Lagos on Monday, when news broke on Tuesday that the party's presidential candidate ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had snuck into London for a meeting with Mr Wike.
On Friday the previous week, Mr. Wike's group had met a delegation sent by Atiku in Port Harcourt, as the candidate continued his seemingly fanciful mission to appease the man he had beaten in the PDP.
Although this meeting ended in an impasse, both parties said that their negotiations were continuing.
Three days later, when the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) invited top presidential candidates to speak at its 62nd annual conference in Lagos, Mr. Tinubu's absence drew a lot of attention. Warning. But that was quickly overshadowed by reactions to his representative's choice of dress at the event, his running mate Kashim Shettima. Although Mr. Shettima spoke brilliantly about the APC ticket plans for Nigeria, social media and newspapers seemed to notice that his jacket was oversized and he was wearing sneakers.
Tinubu and WikeThe next day, however, after a newspaper broke the news that Mr. Tinubu had met with Mr. Wike, attention shifted to the PDP's unending post-convention crisis.
Admittedly, it had long been public knowledge that MM. Tinubu and Wike were talking.
On July 8, Governor de Rivers received in his capital, with fanfare, Governors Babajide Sanwo-olu from Lagos, Kayode Fayemi from Ekiti and Rotimi Akeredolu from Ondo, all APC and South West associates of M Tinubu, before driving them behind closed doors for a meeting at his private residence. Since then, Mr. Wike had hosted other APC leaders, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, who is also a close associate of Mr. Tinubu.
Nigerians found themselves feeding on scraps from afar last week as their political leaders took their scheming for the 2023 presidential election across the Atlantic.
Between Monday and Thursday, Governor Nyesom Wike, who has so far managed to establish himself as the central figure in the election despite his elimination in the primaries, dragged his group of disgruntled Peoples' Democratic Party ( PDP) in a quick series of meetings in London with the three main presidential candidates.
And rather than the main leaders of the PDP, which includes six governors and former governors, being reprimanded for their clearly anti-party activities, their party was quite happy that its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, was allowed to take his turn at screening.
Ironically, Nigerians were still enthralled with both the substance and the subterfuge of another drama, staged on their own soil in Lagos on Monday, when news broke on Tuesday that the party's presidential candidate ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had snuck into London for a meeting with Mr Wike.
On Friday the previous week, Mr. Wike's group had met a delegation sent by Atiku in Port Harcourt, as the candidate continued his seemingly fanciful mission to appease the man he had beaten in the PDP.
Although this meeting ended in an impasse, both parties said that their negotiations were continuing.
Three days later, when the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) invited top presidential candidates to speak at its 62nd annual conference in Lagos, Mr. Tinubu's absence drew a lot of attention. Warning. But that was quickly overshadowed by reactions to his representative's choice of dress at the event, his running mate Kashim Shettima. Although Mr. Shettima spoke brilliantly about the APC ticket plans for Nigeria, social media and newspapers seemed to notice that his jacket was oversized and he was wearing sneakers.
Tinubu and WikeThe next day, however, after a newspaper broke the news that Mr. Tinubu had met with Mr. Wike, attention shifted to the PDP's unending post-convention crisis.
Admittedly, it had long been public knowledge that MM. Tinubu and Wike were talking.
On July 8, Governor de Rivers received in his capital, with fanfare, Governors Babajide Sanwo-olu from Lagos, Kayode Fayemi from Ekiti and Rotimi Akeredolu from Ondo, all APC and South West associates of M Tinubu, before driving them behind closed doors for a meeting at his private residence. Since then, Mr. Wike had hosted other APC leaders, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, who is also a close associate of Mr. Tinubu.
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