Olusegun Olanrewaju
A ratchet of drama yesterday marked the exit of the embattled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, whose suspension was ordered by a court in Makurdi, Benue State on Monday.

In a move that could further inflame the recurrent crises in the leading opposition party in the country, Ayu eventually bade farewell at the ‘Wadata House’ headquarters in Abuja, where he had earlier showed up in the day for maybe, routine duties.

Despite the court order restraining him from parading himself as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ayu had been sighted in his office at the national secretariat of the party in the nation’s capital in the company of his aides, in the morning hours.

But that was not to be as a new acting chairman emerged in Umar Damagum, the party’s former deputy national chairman, north, who is to pilot the affairs of the party henceforth.

Ayu’s stepping aside from office was largely unexpected, given the spirited defence put on his behalf by an aide and sympathisers on Monday, a day after which the erstwhile chairman’s suspension had been announced from his home ward in Benue State.

 

*Damagun takes over pending the vacation of the court order

Ayu’s decision yesterday afternoon, party faithful say, was in obedience to an order of a Benue State High Court in Makurdi issued on Monday, which asked him to stop parading himself as the PDP national chairman.

As an immediate replacement, the deputy national chairman (North), Ambassador Iliya Damagun, has stepped in to take over as the party’s acting national chairman.

Damagun’s appointment was a sequel to a court order which restrained Ayu from performing the functions of the national chair, until the determination of a pending court case.

There had been reports earlier in the day that Ambassador Damagum would assume the position in an acting capacity, pending the vacation of the court order.

Ayu, through his spokesman, Simon Imobo Tswam, said that he would vacate the court order.

But party spokesman, Debo Ologunagba, later in a terse statement, said the national leadership had resolved and opted for Ayu’s leading deputy, Damagum, to assume office in keeping with the court order.

Ayu, you are gone – Wike

 

Ologunagba stated, “The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at an emergency meeting today, Tuesday, March 28, 2023, acknowledge the Order of the Benue State High Court, dated March 27, 2023, with regards to the chairmanship position of our great party.

“After careful consideration of the Court Order, and in line with Section 45 (2) of the Constitution of the PDP (as amended in 2017), the NWC resolved that the Deputy National Chairman (North) His Excellency, Ambassador Umar Ililya Damagum assumes the National Chairmanship of our party in acting capacity with effect from today, Tuesday, March 28, 2023.

“The NWC charges all leaders, critical stakeholders, teeming members, and supporters of our great party to remain calm and united at this critical time.”

The announcement marked the second time in two years that a deputy national chairman of the party has assumed leadership of PDP, following a court order stopping the party’s national chairman from office.

The first time was in 2021, when a Port Harcourt, Rivers State-based court ordered the then-national chairman, Uche Secondus, to stop parading himself in that capacity, after his suspension from the party by his ward leadership in the state.

Sequel to Secondus’ adherence to the court order, his then deputy in charge of the South, Yemi Akinwonmi, took over as chairman, also in an acting capacity, before a new substantive chairman (Ayu) was elected.

Meanwhile, the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) is billed to meet to review further developments about the issues raised in the suspension matter, today.

In the meantime, the Acting National Chairman of PDP, Umar Damagun, has said he was stepping into the position to act as chairman “to fulfill all righteousness” because of a court order restraining Dr Iyorchia Ayu from parading himself as National Chairman.

In his first point appointment interview with reporters in Abuja yesterday, he said, “We are here to fulfil all righteousness, we have a court order restraining the chairman our national chairman, and we are law-abiding.

“I will be here with you in an acting capacity pending the determination of the court. I want to use this opportunity to enjoy you to give me the cooperation I used to have with you.

“I will have a meeting immediately after this session with the NWC to review what is happening at the party.”

 

*PDP members reject Ayu’s suspension

Meanwhile, members of the PDP Leadership League have condemned what they term the illegal suspension of the national chairman of the party, Ayu.

They’ve also called on the NWC of the party to enforce discipline and resist a takeover by ‘rogue governors’, as members of the G5 or Integrity Group led by Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, are known.

The group had been ferociously seeking Ayu’s ouster over alleged lop-sidedness in appointments in the party’s hierarchy.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja yesterday, and signed by its leaders; May Ubeku, Ose Anenih, John Shuaibu, and Babasola Kuti, members of the league said some members of the party “are deliberately working to sabotage the party”.

Their words, “As we come to the end of INEC’s poorly conducted 2023 general elections, and the start of our judicial challenges; we must do a post-mortem of our performance during the elections and identify members and leaders who deliberately sabotaged efforts of the PDP to rescue Nigeria from the ruinous reign of the APC.”

It added, “In the run-up to the elections and during the elections proper, party leaders and members, in pursuit of personal and pecuniary agendas publicly and consistently flouted these rules and guidelines. Just as you cannot build a society where the Rule of Law is ignored; we cannot build a Party where leaders believe they are kings and emperors; untouchable because they see themselves as above the law.

“We were all witnesses to the disgraceful anti-party antics of the self—styled G-5 Governors who directly and indirectly worked for the APC; even though this same APC had over the last eight years made Nigeria not just the poverty capital of the world but made us one of the most insecure nations in the world; had delivered to Nigerians the highest unemployed youth population in the world; and had raised our debt to unsustainable levels; and all this while they trampled on the rights and freedoms of millions of ordinary Nigerians.

“Governor Nyesom Wike, despite his public statements and actions against the presidential candidate of the party and the NWC, secured a court injunction restraining the party from disciplining him; as did Governor Samuel Ortom; but we are pleased to see that other party leaders who betrayed the party and their followers are being suspended and expelled by the National Working Committee (NWC).

“We applaud the party’s decision to respect the courts, and once the injunctions are set aside, we urge the party to show the world that no one man is bigger than the PDP; no matter how much power, wealth, or violence he may claim to control.

“We also urge the NWC to give all offending members a fair hearing, no matter how grievous or provocative their actions may appear to be. We cannot, in pursuit of discipline; become guilty of violating fundamental provisions of our constitution.

“And this point must be stressed repeatedly: no man controls the PDP. To claim to do so is hubris of the highest order. The PDP is a national party. It was not formed as a vehicle to grab power; neither was it formed as a platform of convenience for the expression of regional ambitions.

“We are a national party; owned by all Nigerians who yearn for a better and brighter future for themselves and their children. No man can buy the dreams of Nigerians; no man can buy the PDP,” the statement further read.

 

*I advised Ayu but he wouldn’t listen– Bode George

Following the court order sitting in Makurdi restraining Ayu, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Party, Chief Bode George, has revealed that he had a face-to-face meeting with Ayu and advised him on how to thread, but he wouldn’t take his advice.

Speaking on Arise TV on post-election matters, the erstwhile Deputy National Chairman who groaned over the unprecedented economic hardship in the country said Mr Ayu has been handling the party affairs like a private enterprise.

Recall that a former secretary to the Federation, Senator Ayim Pius Ayim, former governor of Ekiti state, Ayo Fayose, and others were suspended by Ayu, while the likes of Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom were referred to the disciplinary committee of the party recently.

However, George said, “I had meetings with Ayu but he wouldn’t listen. How can you be throwing fireworks at key officials of the party? Moreover, only the National Executive Committee (NEC) can suspend members of the NEC. All these people are members of NEC. You don’t run a party like a private enterprise.

“I am good at physics. We were taught that ‘to every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction’. Challenges are rocking the party already, the election is not over yet, and you don’t begin to act like headmaster against your party. He didn’t get approval from NEC before suspending them. A divided house stands defeated”

He called on aggrieved members to sheathe their swords and look up to post – mortem analysis of the party, saying that Ayu and other party stalwarts steering the affairs of the party would one day leave the stage but they should not let their actions drag the party to a bottomless abyss.

“My anger was that my people were ostracised and abandoned from key positions of the party. If they are not careful, they would drown this ship. I have said it, I’m an irredentist PDP member”

He challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to prove to Nigerians (if he’s a man of integrity or not) that he (President) would leave a legacy of free, fair, and credible elections. He urged the judiciary not to allow anybody to influence their decision concerning the Petitions filed by dissatisfied political candidates in the February 25th presidential election, against INEC, APC, INEC Chairman, and other defendants.

“John 8:32 says, ‘You shall say the truth, and the truth shall set you free. I pray the Almighty God would work through the minds of the Justices to dispense Justice to the satisfaction of the masses. I don’t believe Nigerians massively voted for the same APC that denied them food, water, money, electricity, security, and other necessities.

“INEC ran elections in Edo, Osun, Ekiti, and Anambra and all were flawless, why is this presidential election heavy? Why can’t we do the right thing at the right time?

“Very soon I will quit partisan politics. I’m almost 80. As for leaving this country, I will decide when to leave but Nigeria remains my country, no apology for what I said,” he reiterated.

 

*He’s gone for good– Wike

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has advised the embattled national chairman of the PDP, Ayu to come to terms with the reality his calamitous reign has come to an end.

The governor said Ayu’s claim that only the National Executive Committee (NEC) could suspend him was a pointer that he is suffering from delusions of grandeur.

Speaking at Bellmouth Junction, Degema Krakrama Bridge, the venue of the inauguration of phase one of the Trans-Kalabari Road, Wike declared that Ayu could not reap from a party, by presiding over its affairs, where he has not sown, securing any electoral victory for it.

“AYU said nobody can suspend him but today, he has packed out from the national office. We have an acting chairman. I told him he will go whether you like it or not, he will go.

Wike explained, peradventure, Ayu is unfamiliar with the party’s constitution that the court, sometimes in the past, struck out in its judgement section that bestowed powers on NEC only, to suspend national officers.

“Those lawyers telling you that the ward has no power to suspend you and that it’s only National Executive Council (NEC), then you don’t understand what is happening. When you came, it was the ward that suspended (Uche) Secondus, and you went and took office, is it not?”

“So, is it now that you know that it is only NEC that can suspend you? Let me tell you, since they’ve not told you, the court has struck off that section of our constitution that says it’s only NEC can suspend (chairman).  PDP did not even appeal the judgement.

“So, forget it, you are gone. You are wasting your time. We are ready for the battle. I am not from Benue, but I have interest and that interest is that Ayu must go.”

Wike pointed out that Ayu’s suspension by his ward executive shows that he is not a formidable force and respected political leader who commands loyal followers.

“Look at it, a national chairman, your ward will be suspending you. Does it not tell you that you are not on the ground? Your ward will be suspending you and you go to television to say only NEC can suspend you.  Stay, wait for NEC, but then know that you’re gone.”

The Rivers State governor noted that sadly too Ayu could not secure winning votes for his preferred candidate in the February 25 presidential election.

This, Wike stated, is in addition to the electoral failure that greeted Dr. Ayu because he lost his unit, ward, local government, and the state to the opposition party.

“Ayu, the man you supported for president you didn’t give him the vote, he lost. We supported a southern president and we won in our States for equity, justice, and fairness.

“A man who lost his unit, a man who lost his ward, a man who lost his local government, a man who lost his State and he is coming to preside over us who won our units, won our wards, won our local governments, won our state, something must be wrong.”

Wike also told Ayu, “You cannot reap where you never sowed. If all of us have lost our States, what will you be chairing?

“You want to use Rivers State to be chairman, we are not a party to that. Go and bring your local government. Here (in Rivers), we won 32 over 32 seats for the House of Assembly, Ayu, how many did you win? Here, we won the three seats for senate too, Ayu, how many did you win? We won 11 out of the 13 seats for the House of Representatives, Ayu, how many did you win?”

Commenting on the Trans-Kalabari Road project, governor Wike dismissed sceptics who had assumed he won’t complete the project.  According to him, despite the kidnap of Lubrik Construction Company staff for five months in a bid to disrupt the project, he pressed on and ensured its completion in his tenure.

Wike commended Kalabari people for supporting the PDP and delivering winning votes in the three local government areas for Sir Siminalayi Fubara to emerge as the governor-elect.

Performing the Inauguration of the project, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State noted that governor Wike has done so well for Rivers people because of the spread of his development projects in virtually every community.

Makinde said he is following in the footstep of governor Wike to sustain the pace of delivery of democratic dividends to the people of Oyo State who have graciously re-elected him for a second tenure.

Rivers State Commissioner for Works, Dr George-Kelly Dakorinima Alabo said the Trans-Kalabari Road that is 13. 545 kilometres long linking six Kalabari communities to the mainland, was awarded on 23 March 2021 and completed on schedule.