The Peoples Democratic Party’s National Working Committee is currently divided over Nyesom Wike’s demand that Iyorchia Ayu, the party’s National Chairman, resign before he would agree to settle with Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate.
Top party figures revealed to our source on Sunday that the NWC’s members were starkly divided between those who supported and opposed calls for Ayu’s resignation.
The relationship between Wike and Atiku broke out after the former vice president emerged the PDP’s presidential nominee and chose Ifeanyi Okowa, the governor of Delta State, as his running mate instead of Wike, who had been suggested by a party panel.
Although the PDP formed a panel to mediate the dispute between the two men, Wike’s demand that the party chairman must go as a precondition for reconciliation had kept the main opposition party on edge.
Ayu had been accused of being biased by Wike, who cited his earlier commitment to step down if a northerner was chosen as the party’s presidential candidate.
Atiku reportedly requested Wike to give him two weeks to consider the Rivers governor’s insistence on Ayu during their meeting with him and four other governors last Thursday in London, United Kingdom, in an effort to appease him.
Clariform recalls that Wike and Atiku had a meeting few hours after the governor had a discussion with Peter Obi, the Labour Party candidate, and former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Ayu’s resignation would not end the situation, a member of the party’s NWC who spoke to our source under the condition of anonymity said.
He claims that if Ayu steps down, Umar Damagum, the Deputy National Chairman, who will take over, also speaks for the North.
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He said:
“The issue is both political and constitutional. Asking Ayu to go may not solve the political problem, since the deputy national chairman of the party for the North will still take charge of the party in the absence of the chairman.”
“To solve the constitutional and political crises, the NEC (National Executive Committee) of the party can dissolve the NWC and turn them into an interim committee. If that is done, they will just appoint someone from the region where they want the national caretaker chairman to come from as Ayu’s successor.”
“But so far, no meeting has been slated for this week yet. But by tomorrow (today), we will know if there will be a meeting and the agenda will also be listed.”
The PDP’s constitution states that if a national chairman steps down, a deputy national chairman from the same region, whether North or South, will take his place.
The national chairman, according to a NWC source close to Ayu, would not step down from his position.
The source rejected the call for his resignation and said that instead, they should seek the resignation of the PDP presidential candidate.
He said:
“Ayu is not resigning. Ayu is from the North-Central. If Ayu resigns now, the person to take over from him is Umar Damagum, Deputy National Chairman (North) from the North-East. If people do not want North-Central or North-East, why will they accept (someone from) North-East and North-East?”
”The man that will take over from Ayu is from the North- East, the same zone as Atiku Abubakar. Does it make any sense? So how does he help the argument of North-North?”
“Ayu was elected for four years and he has not done even one year. So why should the thought of resigning even arise? What has Ayu done that he should resign? He is not a candidate in the party, he did not beat (Nyesom) Wike in the election, Atiku did.”
