The South West chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday insisted that the National Chairman of the party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, must resign to reflect national unity which is the gospel of the party.
Conveying the message at the PDP South West stakeholders’ meeting with the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar in Ibadan, Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, said the stand of South West PDP was for the national chairman to step down to give room for fairness and equity.
There have been agitations in the party over the demand by the camp of Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, that Ayu should resign following the emergence of Atiku as the party’s presidential flag bearer.
To placate the camp, the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the party, Senator Walid Jibrin, last week resigned. But Wike rejected it, saying Ayu must go.
At the South West meeting yesterday, a former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, had earlier told Atiku that the PDP in the zone had a request which will be conveyed to him by Makinde, who is the leader of the party in the region.
Speaking, Makinde said there are issues on the structural deficiency to be addressed in the party before the 2023 elections.
“If we want to a unified Nigeria, we must unify PDP first. If we want a government of national unity, it must reflect in PDP. If we want to restructure Nigeria, we must restructure PDP first.
“Our presidential candidate is from North East, our national chairman is from North Central, the Director General of Atiku campaign, Aminu Tambuwal, is from the North West, so the PDP national chairman should step down now for peace to reign,” he said.
Atiku, however, urged PDP members not to allow the issue to derail them from working hard to win the next general elections, saying; “it is possible, it is achievable, we have done it before and we have started doing it again.”
Speaking on behalf of the national chairman of the party, the Deputy National Chairman (North) of the party, Umar Damagum, urged members to commit themselves and work diligently for the victory of the party in the coming elections.
Responding, Atiku said Ayu’s resignation must be done in accordance with the party’s constitution, rules, regulations and practice.
He said that the request is achievable if it is in line with the constitution of the party.
“We cannot do anything outside our constitution except it is amended, we cannot do anything unless the law is amended. Ayu must go through our constitution, rules, regulations, and our practice, otherwise, we cannot give the kind of leadership Nigerians want,” he said.
He noted that the choice of the venue for the meeting was deliberate because Ibadan was the capital of politics in the South West and Nigeria at large.
In his remarks, the Chairman, PDP Governors Forum and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, said the meeting was a sign of good things to come, adding that the South West would come back to PDP in 2023.
