There was a time in Nigerian politics when five governors moved with such frightening unity that even PDP elders started behaving themselves. Wike from Rivers, Makinde from Oyo, Ortom from Benue, Ugwuanyi from Enugu, and Ikpeazu from Abia. These men didn’t just form a group, they formed a covenant. A political gang so tightly packed that I started calling them the Aso ebi Boys. At some point, their matching outfits became a national security threat, and Nigerians whispered that the country might need tailor surveillance.
When five grown men in power start dressing alike, it is no longer fashion. It is a warning. Matching attires for political warfare could be a topic in political science. The way they coordinated, it looked like they were planning to overthrow someone’s chairman through tailoring. Some even joked that their tailor had a notebook labeled G5 Strategic Fabrics.
They dressed like wedding groomsmen on steroids. Same embroidery, same cap angle, same we know something you don’t know swagger. If Wike wore wine senator on Monday, Makinde showed up on Tuesday with the same fabric but upgraded stitching. Ortom completed the look with a matching cap. Ugwuanyi arrived looking like he ironed everybody’s clothes before they came out. Ikpeazu, the fifth member, blended in with the same uniform confidence. At one point, I am convinced they even started walking the same way. Rumours flew that their tailor begged for mercy. Some wondered if they practiced mirror rehearsals.
Nigerians hadn’t seen that level of synchronization since NYSC parade.
Even PDP headquarters became humble. Truly, the fear of the G5 was the beginning of wisdom. If the party needed a signal, they didn’t call NEC. They looked at the fabric the Aseobi Boys wore. Bold colours meant tension was coming. White meant someone was about to be politically sacrificed. When the Aseobi Boys moved, the party moved.
At a point, their friendship was louder than PDP’s manifesto.
They travelled together, ate together, plotted together. They were the Avengers, except with Kaftans. Their roles were clear. Wike the talkative general. Makinde the cool-headed strategist. Ortom the philosopher warrior who always mentioned herdsmen. Ugwuanyi the gentle giant who spoke mostly through nodding. Ikpeazu the quiet stabilizer who blended into their unity without stress.
But like all Nigerian friendships built on a common enemy, sweetness has an expiry date.
Election season arrived.
And election season is the greatest friendship destroyer in Nigeria.
Once campaigns entered the chat, loyalty became optional. Promises started expiring like Gala in the sun. Everyone suddenly remembered personal interest.Their matching clothes didn’t just stop,they tore spiritually, like betrayal had entered the fabric.
Their WhatsApp group, once buzzing with fabric samples and meeting plans, suddenly went silent. One day Wike typed Good morning guys and nobody replied for six hours. Not even a thumbs up. That was the beginning of the end. Someone muted the group permanently. Messages got read but ignored. Emojis vanished.
When politicians stop picking each other’s calls, just know democracy is about to shake.
Wike was the first to explode. When he feels betrayed, even walls know. He started giving interviews like someone releasing a memoir. Throwing subtexts around. Some of you are ungrateful. Nigerians looked straight at Makinde. Makinde developed selective hearing. G5? Who? I am focusing on my second term please.
Ortom? The once fearless lion,defender of the Benue Valley remembered EFCC. That alone humbles any warrior.
Ugwuanyi quietly disappeared. The way he used to stand quietly in group photos was the same way he left the alliance. Silently. Without stress. He unfollowed them spiritually without touching his phone.
Ikpeazu meanwhile became the calmest of the crew. He didn’t fight, didn’t shout, didn’t drag anybody. He simply maintained peace and disappeared gently into political survival mode.
The G5 didn’t just break up,they left PDP standing like someone whose tailor disappointed on the wedding morning
By 2023, their bromance wasn’t just collapsing. It was imploding. Wike openly supported Tinubu.
Makinde stylishly supported Tinubu too, citing principles, fairness, and grammar. Ortom fully backed Peter Obi. Ugwuanyi refused to back Atiku, floated between Tinubu and Obi, and stayed peaceful.
Ikpeazu kept his distance from Atiku as well and did not deliver the party’s expected support.
Atiku didn’t lose that election at the polling units he lost it the day the Aseobi Boys stopped picking his calls. The G5 didn’t just scatter,they practically handed Atiku his defeat on a silver platter. Five governors, each supposedly the backbone of PDP, each controlling millions of voters, chose personal calculation over party loyalty. Their disunity wasn’t noise. It was political demolition. They didn’t need to campaign against Atiku. Their absence alone was enough damage. They didn’t just weaken him. They crippled his chances. If you want to understand why Atiku lost, don’t look far. Start with the G5.
Their choices exposed everything. The G5 wasn’t a principled movement. It was a power alliance. Once power came to the table, brotherhood became optional.
Suddenly the once synchronized men started dressing like strangers. Wike wore white. Makinde wore blue. Ortom wore camouflage of survival. Ugwuanyi wore I don’t want wahala. Ikpeazu wore peace and distance. PDP noticed. Nigerians noticed. Even INEC noticed. The breakup was inevitable. The alliance scattered like cheap Ankara after first wash.
Funny enough, when the dust settled, the only relationship still standing was the Wike–Ortom friendship. Out of the whole G5 brotherhood, those two somehow remained glued together. The alliance scattered, loyalties shifted, clothes stopped matching, but Wike and Ortom still held each other like two survivors of a political shipwreck.
People wondered how five grown men who once behaved like political quintuplets could suddenly avoid each other like ex-friends at a wedding. But the answer is simple. Any friendship built on power will collapse the moment the power shifts. And it shifted.
Wike was invited to Abuja for federal participation. Once a politician tastes federal air conditioning, old friendships become souvenirs. He started sitting with people he once vowed to expose. His wardrobe changed. He upgraded from Aseobi to full colour rioting textiles with same coloured shoes a walking stick and a matching hat complete with federal confidence and new laughter.
Makinde, relaxed in his second term, behaved like a casual observer in the G5 story. Giving interviews like, We had a group but everyone moved on. Moved on from matching clothes? Wonders never end. Ortom moved from boldness to survival mode. EFCC has a way of turning lions into motivational speakers. Ugwuanyi continued minding his business with monk-like consistency
Ikpeazu, the most quiet and least dramatic of the five, simply went home to rest from the political gymnastics. In the end, the G5 became like every WhatsApp group created during a crisis. Active in the first week. Half silent in the second. Dead by the third. Eventually full of left the group notifications.
For a moment, they shook PDP. They shook the party so much that PDP became humble like a man whose wife suddenly knows all his ATM PINs. Elders sat up straight whenever the Aso ebi Boys spoke. Today, the Aso ebi Boys are politically divorced. No more joint communiques. No more synchronized threats. No more matching attires for revolution. Everyone is on his own in true Nigerian fashion. But one thing remains clear. For a brief moment, Nigeria witnessed a brotherhood so dramatic, so stylish, so tightly knit, that even Nollywood could not replicate it. And like every Nigerian wedding, once the aso ebi finished, everyone went home and faced their life.
VANGUARD.
