Following the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate, certain stakeholders in the Peoples Democratic Party have called on the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to resign.
On Saturday, Atiku overcame other presidential candidates to become the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election.
In response to Atiku’s emergence, several party insiders claimed that the party’s zoning mechanism prevented both the national chairman and the presidential candidate from being from the same zone.
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Others claimed that Ayu had signed an undertaken before his emergence as the National Chairman of the party that he would resign and hand over to a Southerner if the presidential candidate comes from his region.
Ayu while speaking in an interview after his emergence as PDP national chairman said, “Luckily, party positions are not tied to the position of executive and legislative positions.
“However, I’m a very democratic person and I will do everything to promote the interest and image of my party.
“If the PDP says I should step down after a presidential candidate emerges and happens to be from the North, I will be very glad to do so because what we want is to take over the government and run the government in the interest of Nigerians. So, I’ll sacrifice anything to ensure that my party wins.”
A former minister from the South-South, who is leading the call for Ayu’s resignation, while speaking with Daily Independent noted that his group will begin moves to ensure that Ayu honours the agreement and resigns.
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He said, “We have written a letter to the national chairman yesterday reminding him of the pact he had with the party leaders if our presidential candidate comes from the North.
“We will also begin to mount pressure on major stakeholders in the party across the country to ensure he abides by the agreement.”
The immediate past National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan while speaking on the issue said there is no sacrifice too big to make on the part of the leaders in order to ensure victory for the PDP in the general elections.
Ologbondiyan said, “It won’t be a surprise because in the process of zoning the offices, I think part of the arrangement then was that both positions, that is, presidential candidate and national chairman will not be in a single zone.
“I do not know what the stakeholders of the party feel currently but I think that there will be no sacrifice that will be too huge to make in order for us to win the 2023 election.
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“If that happens, it will be a sacrifice in the interest of the party so that every group and zone in the party will be carried along.”
A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Prince Diran Odeyemi also said while it is true that Ayu will have to step down now that Atiku has emerged as presidential candidate, it is left for PDP stakeholders to decide when he will do so. “That is the normal and ideal thing that will happen.
Odeyemi said, “My take is that the PDP is a political party that has arrangement. It is our internal issue that is not the affairs of non-PDP members.
“Within ourselves, Ayu knows the right thing to do and the PDP also knows the right thing to do at the right time. It is too early for us to say Ayu should resign.
“The whole thing is a process. At the right time, Ayu will leave the stage since we now have a Northerner as our presidential candidate. “So, the chairmanship of the party will automatically come to the South.
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“When it will happen is what I cannot say now. But it is an arrangement that will and must definitely happen”.
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