- Ayu Goes Nowhere – Atiku
The camp of Governor Nyesom Wike in the Peoples Democratic Party has officially announced its withdrawal from participating in the presidential campaign of the party for the 2023 elections.
The group made its position known after a long meeting which started at about 7pm last night and ended by past 2am Wednesday morning at the private residence of Wike in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Members of the group said none of them will participate in whatever capacity in the campaign council unless the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, resigns for a southern candidate.
Present at this defining gathering at Wike’s residence in Port Harcourt include Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State; former Governors Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo, Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, Donald Duke of Cross River, Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe and Jonah Jang of Plateau, former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke.
Others at the meeting are elder statesmen, Olabode George, Jerry Gana; South-South Chairman of the PDP, Dan Orbih; former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chibudom Nwuche; Senator Suleiman Nazif, Nnenna Ukeje, among several others.
But the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar has declared that the PDP National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu won’t resign as being demanded by the Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike and other PDP Governors in his camp.
Atiku, in a reaction to the withdrawal of Wike and his loyalists from the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, urged the aggrieved party chieftains to have a rethink and retrace their steps
In a statement on Wednesday, Atiku said: “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”.
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