The National Executive Committees of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are divided ahead of Thursday’s meeting scheduled to resolve the call for the removal of the National Chairman of the party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu.
While some members of he committee from the Southern region support Ayu’s removal for equity and fairness sake, adding that it’s the only way out of the lingering crisis confronting the party, Ayu’s supporters said he would not step aside at this critical time when the party was preparing for the election.
The crisis rocking the PDP began after a former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar emerged the presidential candidate of the party.
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The loyalists of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike had been demanding Ayu’s resignation, stating that the presidential candidate and the national chairman should not hail from the same region, as well as the Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman.
Though the PDP set up a panel to resolve the crisis, Wike, supported by three other governors, had continued to insist on Ayu’s removal.
Resisting the pressure to leave office, the party chair vowed to stay till the end of his four-year tenure.
He also dismissed those demanding his removal as youngsters who had little knowledge about the formation of the PDP.
Reinforcing their demand in an interview with Punch on Tuesday, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Oyo State, Mr Akeem Olatunji, stressed that Ayu’s removal would facilitate Atiku’s electoral victory.
Akeem, however, noted that the state chapter of the party had nothing against Atiku and Ayu adding that their demand was borne out of their desire to see the party emerge victorious at the poll.
He said, “We are passionate about Alhaji Abubakar Atiku winning this presidential election and that is why we are calling for Senator Iyorchia Ayu to step aside and allow somebody from the South to take over.
“We don’t want Alhaji Atiku to just be a presidential candidate, we want him to transform from a candidate to the President-elect of this country by February 2023.
“We believe that part of what can make our job easier is for the national chairmanship of the PDP to come from the South. We don’t want our opponents to use that to campaign against us.
“It’s not that we have anything against Atiku or Senator Ayu, we are not their enemies; we want the party to win. It is better we sort this out now and that is what we are saying. We want the national chairmanship of the PDP to come to the South for balance.”
