The impasse in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over the resignation or otherwise of its National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, deepens on Wednesday, as the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, declared that Ayu, won’t resign as being demanded by the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, and other PDP governors and party stalwarts in his camp.
Recating to the withdrawal of Wike and his loyalists from the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Abubakar urged the aggrieved party chieftains to have a rethink and retrace their steps.
Abubakar said this in a statement on Wednesday, insisting, “On the calls for the resignation or removal from office of our National Chairman, however, I must reiterate what I have said severally in public and in private; the decision for Dr. Iyorchia Ayu to resign from office is personal to Dr. Ayu and, neither I nor anyone else can make that decision for him.
“As to the calls for the removal of Dr. Ayu from office, however, I will state that, as a committed democrat and firm believer in the rule of law and democratic tenets, and our party being one set up, organised and regulated by law and our constitution, it is my absolute belief that every thing that we do in our party must be done in accordance with, and conformity to, the law and our constitution.
“If Dr. Ayu is to be removed from office, it must be done in accordance with the laws that set out the basis for such removal. In any event, you will all recall that the very body that is empowered by law to initiate this removal from office, has already passed a vote of confidence in him.”
