A temporary injunction prohibiting Dr. Iyorchia Ayu from misrepresenting himself as the National Chairperson of the People’s Democratic Party has been ordered by a high court in Makurdi, Benue State.
On Monday, Justice W.I. Kpochi, the presiding judge, issued an interim ruling in the case MHC/85/2023, which Terhide Utaan had brought before the court with Ayu and the PDP named as defendants.
A new hearing date for the matter is set for April 17.
Details to come…
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Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has accused the Peoples Democratic Party’s National Chairperson, Iyorchia Ayu, of anti-party activities.
Ortom stated that Ayu should go before the party’s disciplinary committee because he worked for the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Benue State.
The governor stated in response to the National Working Committee, led by Ayu, reporting him to the party’s National Disciplinary Committee for alleged anti-party conduct.
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Ortom demanded that the PDP National Chairman explain how he lost his polling unit, ward, local government, and state elections.
A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Nathaniel Ikyur, reads partly: “The first person the party should refer to the disciplinary committee should be the national chairman of the party, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu.
“The national chairman lost his polling unit, lost his ward, local government, and even the state.
“As if that is not enough, there are strong indications that the national chairman was involved in anti-party activities in Benue State by working for the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, just to get at me because of my principled stand against certain aspects of the decisions of the national leadership of the party.”
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Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has pledged to drive out the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential nominee, Atiku Abubakar, as well as the PDP’s National Chairperson, Iyorchia Ayu, and several other party leaders.
Gov. Wike made the pledge during the launching of a road project in Rivers State’s Ikwerre Local Government Area on Thursday.
Wike blamed the PDP’s loss in the recently ended presidential election on people he said refused to obey the PDP Constitution. He pledged to kick them out of the party and begin the rebuilding process.
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The governor referred to the relocation as the “second phase of the conflict.”
According to him: “These people left our party in 2014-2015, our party lost; again they came back, our party has lost again.
“They have destroyed our party. We are going to chase them away from our party. They have no role to play for our party.”
Wike also chastised the PDP leadership for blaming the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission of failing to follow election guidelines when they (the PDP) reportedly failed to follow the party’s constitution.
He also criticized the PDP leaders for organising the demonstration against INEC, referring to them as “student unions.”
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Senator Iyorchia Ayu, National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is slated to lead a “black” demonstration at the national offices of the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) in Abuja.
According to a notification issued on Sunday by Ibrahim Bashir, Director of Administration, PDP Presidential Campaign Council, the protest is to reject the results of the presidential election.
The PDP also invited its members to join the demonstration, which would begin at 10 a.m. from the party’s headquarters, Legacy House in Abuja’s Maitama district.
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According to the party, all members should wear black uniforms.
The notice reads: “I am directed to respectfully invite Your Excellencies: The National Chairman, Dr Iyrochia Ayu, The Vice Presidential Candidate and Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyichukwu Okowa, Governors of; Akwa Ibom and Chairman of PCC, Mr Udom Emmanuel, Sokoto state and DG of PCC, Rt Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, and Governors of Bayelsa, Edo, Adamawa, Bauchi, Taraba and Osun States; Former Senate Presidents, Senator David Mark and Senator Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, BOT members, NEC members, PDP Senators and House of Representatives Members, NWC members of the party, DDGs, Directors, Deputies and Assistant Directors of NCMC; Members of the PCC; Leadership of People Living With Disabilities and all other Stakeholders to a protest match to INEC Office.”
Remember that INEC proclaimed the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, as the victor of the recently ended presidential election.
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Tinubu received 8,794,726 votes, defeating Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who received 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), who received 6,101,533 votes.
Following the declaration, the PDP disputed Tinubu’s declaration as president-elect, claiming that its flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar, had won the poll.
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The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Council has retaliated against the ruling All Progressives Congress, reminding the party that the President’s convoy, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), was stoned a few weeks ago in Kano.
The PDP PCC declared this on Saturday in response to the APC’s jabs thrown at the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, during the party’s presidential campaign rally in Kano last week, when a slip of the tongue remarked, “PDP has brought us shame. We will not allow them to remain in power.”
The error of the tongue fetched Ayu a barrage of criticisms not only from the APC but also from Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State who has been consistent in his call for Ayu’s resignation.
“When you see undertakers, you will see those who came to kill this party but the party will not die. They will die first. He (Ayu) said they will not allow PDP to be in power. Is that a good chairman? Is that not anti-party? Is the chairman not doing anti-party? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks,” Wike was quoted as saying in response to Ayu’s Kano outing.
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In its reaction, the APC campaign team, in a statement signed by Bayo Onanuga, noted that the PDP chairman was only stating the obvious.
“In our view, Iyorchia Ayu did not suffer from slip of the tongue. He was only reflecting an inner guilt about the grave damage his party inflicted on our country for 16 years,” the statement read in part.
Not prepared to have the ruling party have the last say on the matter, the spokesman for the PDP PCC, Dino Melaye, in a statement on Saturday, urged the ruling party to deal with its internal issues first before attempting to cast aspersions on Ayu.
The statement read in part, “Unsettled by the peaceful, stone-free and resounding rally of the People’s Democratic Party in Kano on Thursday, the fractured, factionalised and fading All Progressives Congress, APC, had no other reaction after the impressive outing than to make a song and dance of what was by its own admission, a slip of tongue of the urbane and intellectually savvy Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
“To demonstrate the extent that incoherence and political erosion has so much disoriented the beleaguered APC, its spinners attempted to cover the flame of its failure with a bare hand in an attempt to veil the rejection and shame that beguiled the party when its leaders were stoned in that same Kano City just a few days before. The balablue of the APC is a shock therapy for the massive reception that the PDP received in Kano.
“It is repulsive and revulsive that a party that has ruined the economy and made it so prostrate that citizens are now buying their own currency will be talking about shame. What is more shameful than having thousands of naira in your bank but you are unable to buy groundnut of N200 to mix with your garri, because you have a party that has completely run out of ideas and has consequently run our country aground?
“How can a party talk of shame where banks have now shut down and customers have relocated from the peace of their homes to the cubicle of Automated Teller Machines hoping for a wad of naira notes to slip from the currency dispenser?
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“How can a party talk of shame where in the place of hope for a better academic system in the university, its presidential candidate is assuring that instead of 4 years, students will spend 8 years? What a renewal of misery and hopelessness?
“How can a party talk about shame when its own presidential candidate is accusing the President of Nigeria and leader of his party of sabotage and an unpardonable economic mismanagement that has taken the naira from exchanging at 200 naira to a dollar to 800 naira to a dollar within 7 years?
“How can a party talk of shame when in a nation of over 200 million people, the APC is parading a man who most times doesn’t know where he is and utters unintelligible bulaba and balabu all over the place?
“How can a party talk of shame where trillions of naira has been spent on fuel subsidy and Nigerians in the pauperised villages are buying a litre of petrol at 400 naira while those who ferry public money around in bullion vans pay 180 naira per litre?
“How can a party talk of shame where the rule of law and the judiciary have been so bastardized that a vibrant and erudite Chief Justice of Nigeria was manacled out of office and was replaced by a lackey who ultimately paved way for a Chief Judge that romances with a dissenting group in a political party? Is it any little wonder that the chairman of an election tribunal danced ‘buga’ in a courtroom to demonstrate his bias in a brazen conduct that awarded from the bench what a contestant could not obtain from the ballot box?”
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Melaye further noted that had APC understood the meaning of shame, it would apologize to Nigerians “for arresting development, destroying the economy, bastardising the judiciary, inflicting pain of fuel, food and fund scarcity and making Nigeria a laughing stock all over the world.
“A party that has become irredeemable, consigning the hope of Nigeria in a mentally and physically sagged flag bearer can only be stopped in its tracks by a broadminded visionary leader with a sound mind in a sound body, Atiku Abubakar.
“The APC has performed in its destructive best. We have just two weeks to terminate this pain. Money will circulate again,” Melaye added.
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Prior to the February 25 presidential election, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged his relative, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, to join the party’s campaign effort.
At the party’s presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar’s campaign rally, which took place in the state on Monday, Ayu made the call.
All 22 of the local government chairmen in the state, including Ortom and his deputy Benson Abounu, abstained from the rally.
However, former governor, senator Gabriel Suswam, former Senate president David Mark, Emmanuel Yisa Orker-Jev, and Abba Moro, who represent the Benue North-West and Benue North-East senatorial districts, respectively, were among those that attended the campaign.
The party governorship candidate and his deputy, Titus Uba and John Ngbede, respectively, and some state working committee members attended the rally.
Speaking at the event, Ayu appealed to Ortom, who had not shown support for Atiku, to join hands with the party to be able to rescue the country.
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The PDP chair said he had settled his rift with Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, who is a member of the G-5 governors, that are disgruntled with Ayu and Atiku.
Ayu said, “What we have is some of our members who are aggrieved but we are appealing to Governor Ortom to come back and join us to rescue the country. Governor Ortom has nowhere to go. We have already resolved our issue with the Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu. I was with him two days ago and he has agreed to work for the success of our party.”
Speaking at the rally, Atiku promised to restore peace to the state by making Fulani herders sign a truce deal with the natives of the state.
“I am the umbrella of Tiv people worldwide. If you vote for me, I will make sure peace return to Benue State. I will come to the state and make sure Fulani signs a peace pact with the people of the state,” Atiku said.
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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was prevented from suspending or dismissing Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike from the party by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
According to news reports, the judgement came as a result of an ex-parte motion brought by Governor Wike against the PDP and its top executives in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/139/2023.
Wike has sued the PDP, its National Working Committee (NWC), and National Executive Committee (NEC) in an application dated and filed on Feb. 2. (NEC).
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Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Samuel Anyanwu, National Secretary of the PDP, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are the other respondents, from first to sixth.
According to the lawsuit, the governor requested that the court order all parties to maintain the status quo and halt all actions in the matter relating to the threat to suspend or expel him by the first through fifth respondents awaiting the hearing and resolution of the originating motion.
Wike further requested a court order granting him leave to serve the move on notice, originating motion, and all other court processes in the suit on the first to fifth respondents by substituted means, by pasting all of the aforementioned documents at the PDP National Secretariat.
After hearing from Wike’s lawyer, Dr. J. Y. Musa, SAN, Justice Omotosho granted all of the requested reliefs.
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He said: “All parties in this suit shall maintain peace and shall not take any action or step or act that may make the outcome of the motion on notice dated and filed on 2nd February, 2023 nugatory and worthless.
“That any act or step or action made so as to make the outcome of the motion on notice dated and filed on 2nd February, 2023 nugatory shall be a nullity.
“That leave is hereby granted to the applicant (Wike) to serve the originating motion, motion on notice and all other processes of this court in this suit on the 1st to 5th respondents by substituted means to wit, by pasting all the said processes of court on PDP National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza, Wuse Zone 5, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”
Newsmen reveals that Justice Omotosho adjourned the matter until Feb. 14 for hearing.
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The persistent dispute between the camps of the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, and five disgruntled governors elected on the party’s platform appears to have no end in sight.
Last week, Atiku declared his willingness to engage the five governors, who had earlier in the week insisted that the doors to reconciliation were totally open.
According to Anaedoonline.ng, a truce between the parties was not in the cards due to the failure of the aggrieved governor to shift grounds on their demand.
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The governors of Rivers, Oyo, Abia, Benue, and Enugu states, Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Samuel Ortom (Benue), and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), are demanding the resignation/removal of the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, as a condition for
While in Lagos recently for a meeting with other party chieftains, including former PDP Board of Trustees chairman, Chief Bode George, and former Plateau State governor, Jonah Jang, the governors told the media that while their demand for justice, fairness, and equity remained unwavering, they were willing to embrace peace in the interest of all.
This caused Atiku to accept their position, potentially opening the door to talks.
However, when the former Vice President made steps to bring the governors back to the negotiating table, they (the G-5) made it clear that they were not ready for discussions with Ayu as party leader.
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This stance, according to Newsmen, had made future peace discussions difficult, even as Atiku resumed his campaign and the governors retreated into their shells.
Confirming what looked to be a breakdown in negotiations, Timothy Osadolor, the party’s Deputy National Youth Leader, told this medium that while Atiku never “ran away from an opportunity to address the issues presented,” those on the other side “did their thing as usual.”
He stressed, “It takes two to agree. It is unfortunate that our candidate is being made to face this kind of situation. Even though he has nothing to do with their demand (Ayu’s resignation), he has on many occasions reached out to these aggrieved party for a truce. You can’t be open to reconciliation and yet, you are not ready to shift ground. It doesn’t work that way.”
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Senator Ibrahim Tsauri, the PDP’s immediate past National Secretary and a member of the party’s National Executive Committee, also spoke, saying Atiku had tried everything to reconcile with the Wike-led group to no effect.
Tsauri, lamenting the state of events in the party with only two months till the elections, emphasized that the G-5 should make a new demand other than Ayu’s resignation.
Tsauri distanced himself from calls in some places for the party to call the five governors’ bluff, saying, “Nobody can look down on a serving governor, let alone five.” This is due to the fact that they are extremely powerful.”
He continued, “An end to this crisis may not be near but it is not far too. I think the governors want to negotiate and that is fine. But they should not make the removal of Ayu as the only condition that must be met for them to return to join the presidential campaign team. What is good is that they have consistently maintained that they are open to reconciliation. If they had said otherwise, the party would have known what to do.”
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Also speaking, Charles Aniagwu, Delta State Commissioner for Information and spokesperson for the Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Organization, told our correspondent that reconciliation is taking longer because the governors have yet to realize that what they were asking Atiku to do with Ayu’s removal was beyond his powers.
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In the midst of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) crisis, the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, has stated that the PDP is not only for one section of Nigeria, but for the entire country.
He announced this on Thursday, when he addressed a big crowd of party supporters at the Ilorin Metropolitan Square in Kwara State during Atiku Abubakar’s presidential campaign.
“Let me tell you that PDP is one big united family which includes all the whole of Kwara State. We are on our way back to victory.
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“PDP has come back to rescue this country and put it back on the path of development for every family, for every young man, for every old person.
“We are a party for all; we are not a party for only one part of the country. That is why we selected a unifier, somebody who will bring everybody on board and make sure that we rebuild this country.”
Five governors of the party, led by Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike, have sought Ayu’s departure as a condition for supporting Atiku’s presidential bid in 2023, but the Benue-born politician has stated that he will not stand down till the end of his four-year term.
Atiku was joined at the rally on Thursday by his running partner, Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, as well as Governors Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), and Godwin Obaseki (Edo).
Former Senate President Bukola Saraki; former Vice President Namadi Sambo; former governors of Niger, Kogi, and Kwara states, Babangida Aliyu, Ibrahim Idris, and Abdulfatah Ahmed; and Dino Melaye, one of Atiku’s campaign spokesmen, are among those who have endorsed him.
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The stadium was packed with PDP supporters carrying banners and posters of the party’s presidential candidate.
Kwara had been under the control of the PDP since 2003.
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Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State, has stated that Dr. Iyorcha Ayu, the PDP’s national chairman, cannot organise the state’s campaign for the 2023 elections.
At the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt on Saturday, Wike addressed the crowd as the PDP’s governorship candidate for the year 2022, Sim Fubara, was introduced.
The governor claimed that the injustice being done to Rivers State hurts the state’s residents.
“I’ll say it again: Ayu is extremely corrupt. A corrupt person cannot represent me or my state in government, according to Wike.
Details to come…
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