By Olusegun Olanrewaju
Calls for the sacking of the National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Iyorchia Ayu, intensified yesterday as forces revved up their war over his continuous stay in office.
Sources told ThisNigeria that the leader of the leading opposition party has come under more fire over his perceived roles in activities building up to the 2023 election, in particular, over the Ekiti and Osun governor elections.
The crisis worsened last Wednesday when two associates of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom, and a former Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, publicly expressed their reluctance to back their party’s presidential candidate for the general election.
Ortom had said he was still awaiting God’s direction on his decision on the issue. Fayose declared that Wike would not support Atiku.
Both men hinged their grievances on alleged unfair treatment and disrespect of Wike by the presidential candidate in the process of the nomination of Atiku’s running mate.
The main contention, it was gathered, concerns Ayu.
The Wike camp has demanded that Ayu relinquishes his position so that the party can elect a new chairman from the southern part of the country.
They said Ayu’s removal from the party’s chairmanship was necessary to address the lop-sidedness in the PDP hierarchy.
Shortly after he lost the presidential primary to Atiku, Wike maintained that Ayu should step down. He had maintained the stance ever since.
A top source in the Wike’s camp said the Rivers governor and Atiku had held a private meeting to decide on the issue of running mate.
The source said, “During the meeting, Wike said he had not made up his mind on the issue. He asked Wike whether he would take the office or nominate a person to take the slot. Wike told Atiku that he would need to consult with his people on the offer.
“Wike reminded Atiku of the agreement that Ayu would resign if a northerner won the primary. Atiku said he would discuss it with Ayu, but that both of them should keep the issue between them until he had persuaded the chairman to resign.
A former Federal Commissioner for Information and South-South leader, Edwin Clark, had also recently asked Ayu to, as matter of urgency, resign his position.
In a statement he signed, Clark, who is also the leader of the Southern, Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) and Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), said it has become imperative for Ayu to resign as he could no longer head the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP.
The opposition party has been rocked by crisis following the choice of the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as Atiku’s running mate.
Yesterday, sources confided in this newspaper that efforts are being intensified to oust Ayu from office.
Wike, Okowa, and Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa-Ibom State had appeared before the screening panel set up by the PDP to nominate a vice-presidential candidate to the PDP
Some believe that Wike has perfected his plans to oust the PDP chairman since losing as the party presidential candidate and running mate to Atiku.
As it is, there are signs that the PDP is running into stormy waters following the pronounced defection of some of Wike’s supporters.
There have been more strident calls for the PDP national chair and a source attributed the trend to pressure from the Wike camp.
Recall that shortly after his emergence, Atiku had made moves to pacify Wike to form a united front. But it was gathered that such moves have faded into irrelevance.
Loyalists of Wike have dismissed moves to pacify the Wike camp.
A PDP chieftain in Rivers State and former member of the House of Representatives, Ogbomna Nwuke described reconciliation moves as a contradiction.
Wike supporters have pitched their war against Ayu against what they consider ‘dangerous moves in the PDP leadership to ignore the Rivers governor.
*Atiku, 13 PDP govs, others in reconciliation committee to meet Wike
Meanwhile, there have been signs by the Atiku’s camp to stave off more trouble from the fallout of his emergence that is now giving goose pimples to Ayu.
A team has been constituted to appease the Wike camp to drop his ambition to sack Ayu ahead of the 2023 elections.
Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Senator Walid Jibrin, appealed to aggrieved party members because of the choice of Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa as the party’s vice-presidential candidate ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
He advised members to allow the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku, and its chairman, Ayu to return to the country.
Walid in a statement made available to newsmen in Kaduna yesterday maintained that as soon as the party chairman and its presidential candidate returned, the process of reconciling all aggrieved members shall commence with Atiku to head the committee.
The chairman of BoT listed the members of the committee as; PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, PDP vice presidential candidate and Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, and his NWC, PDP BOT Chairman, Jibril, Representative of BOT membership, current 13 PDP governors, former PDP governors, former PDP ministers and some PDP elders from zones and states.
The statement read in part, “This was given great concern and great sense of feeling on the various recent comments coming from some of our PDP members and some prominent Nigerians on the choice of Ifeanyi Okowa, the Governor of Delta State as the vice-presidential candidate by the presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of our party PDP, the biggest party not only in Nigeria but the whole of Africa.
”All the comments and various submissions are very normal in any political set-up in Nigeria today with PDP being the strongest and most prominent party that has all potential to form Government in 2023.
”We must come back to our senses by all our members and all most responsible and respectful Nigerians by giving total support to the party to enable it to form Government by holding all political positions in Nigeria in 2023.
”It is, therefore, very necessary that when our Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and our National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu return to Nigeria very soon from abroad, the following must be done immediately.
“A very important visit must be undertaken to Governor Wike. It is very important to note that Governor Wike is a very responsible and very obedient member of the PDP who assisted tremendously toward building the party into what it is today.
“We must therefore encourage him to never leave the party. In light of the above, I want to appeal to all PDP members and leaders to shun unorthodox comments aimed at reducing and running down the party. We must come together and unite ourselves as earlier established by our founding fathers.
“We should therefore shun any bad comment aimed at dividing us. We must be ready to forget and forgive ourselves by encouraging Nigerians to continue supporting us and our party.
“It is my strong appeal to all current and former Governors, and former Presidents of Nigeria not to add more fuel to the fire but to always try to quench the fire from spreading.”
•Resign if you can’t resolve issues with Rivers gov, Bafarawa tells party chair
Former Sokoto State governor, Attahiru Bafarawa has called on Ayu to resign if he could not solve the crisis in the party.
He also warned that it is dangerous for the PDP to ignore Wike in the race to the 2023 elections.
Bafarawa blamed the crisis which had engulfed the PDP after the presidential primaries on the party’s leadership.
He described the Ayu leadership of the party as an unfortunate problem, thinking that Atiku has been driving the chairmanship out of control.
He said, “What I am trying to say is that the candidate (Atiku) is no longer an aspirant. He is a candidate. He is supposed to be controlled by the party.
“So if there is anything and any technical problem arises, the leadership of the party must swing on and solve the problems.
“But in the situation where we are now in, it looks like the leadership is not helping matters to bring the situation down.
“The national chairman must lead even the presidential candidate to go and speak with Wike for whatever decision they have taken, let him be recognised, let them make him a human being.
“As far as I am concerned, to the best of my knowledge, nobody can undermine Wike in building PDP. Wike is a factor in PDP in Nigeria. Nobody can say to hell with him.
“So with what is happening now, I am not blaming anybody. I am blaming the leadership of the party because they are supposed to swing in and bring the matter down.
From the issues arising from this build-up, it is now obvious why the Wike forces are raging to bring the Ayu leadership down.
