…Insists Only Panacea Is Removal Of Ayu As Natıonal Chairman
There seems no end to the crisis rocking the opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, ahead of the kick off of campaign activities for the 2023 presidential elections, as several top ranking members of the party have pulled out of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Council.
The development is a fall out of the failure of the several efforts to resolve the ongoing impasse between the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Abubakar and governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.
Recall that both Abubakar and Wike have been at each other’s jugular over the ‘violation’ of the party’s zoning arrangement between the North and the South.
Wike and his camp have remained adamant on the removal of the party’s National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu.
Wike has continued to insist that the party’s National Chairman and presidential candidate can’t come from the same region.
On Wednesday morning, Wike and his faction pulled out of Atiku’s Campaign Council, insisting that they will not be part of any activities until Ayu was vacates office.
They insisted that the position of National Chairman must come to the South for balance, justice, and equity in the party, declaring that they will not play any role in Atiku Abubakar’s Campaign Council.
The group also resolved that an acting National Chairman from the South should lead the party on the national campaign, going into the elections.
Their decision was made known in a resolution read by the former Deputy National Chairman, South, of the party, Chief Olabode George, after a long meeting held at Governor Wike’s private residence in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State on Wednesday.
The resolution read by Chief George reads in part: “The published presidential campaign council list translates to putting the cart before the horse, the pertinent issue remains the Ayu leadership.”
“We, therefore, resolve that Senator Iyorchia Ayu resigns as the National Chairman for an acting National Chairman of Southern Nigeria extraction.
“We resolved not to participate in the campaign council in whatever capacity until the resignation of Dr Iyorchia Ayu.”
Those in attendance at the meeting include: governor of Rivers State, Wike; governor of Oyo State Seyi Makinde; governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom; govwrno of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu; governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; former governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang; former governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo; former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose; former governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko; former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke; former DNC, South, George; a member of the PDP Boards of Trustees, BoT, Prof Jerry Gana; former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chibudom Nwuche, Senator Suleiman Nafiz and Chief Dan Orbih.
