A former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bode George has disclosed that the party’s current national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu personally made a promise to resign his position in the event of certain happenings.
George stated on Wednesday that Ayu had promised to resign should the PDP candidate for the 2023 presidential election emerge from the northern region.
The PDP chieftain made the submission while defending the position of himself and some others who have insisted on Ayu’s resignation to pave the way for a southerner to assume the National Chairmanship position.
According to him, they are not pressuring Ayu to resign from office but only asking him to do what he promised publicly in the build-up to the party’s presidential primary election.
“Let me try and educate the public on this issue; we are not talking about removing him (Ayu) or forcing him (to resign), he himself – Iyorcha Ayu – stated pointedly that peradventure if the presidential candidate emerges from the North [I didn’t say it, he said it publicly] that he would resign,” said George during an interview appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
Wike Camp Pulls Out
It will be recalled that on Wednesday, the political atmosphere received a jolt when the camp of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike pulled out of the Campaign Council of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The Wike camp also vowed not to partake in Atiku’s campaign activities pending the resignation of the party’s National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu.
Naija News reports that the Wike camp made the decisions at a strategic meeting held in Port Harcourt and concluded in the early hours of Wednesday.
It was gathered that the Wike Camp decided to hold the meeting following the vote of confidence passed on Ayu as the party’s national chairman by the National Executive Committee (NEC) despite their demand for his resignation.
In a resolution read by a former PDP Deputy National Chairman, Bode George, the Wike camp insisted that its members will not work with Atiku until Ayu resigns and allow an acting Chairman from the South to lead the party.
It’s A Moral Issue
Reacting to the backlash that has greeted their decision to publicly withdraw support from the PDP candidate, George explained that Ayu is morally bound to resign.
He added that the PDP needs to show inclusiveness and sensitivity just as the founding fathers of the party would have wanted.
The PDP chieftain insisted that the right thing is for Ayu to resign.
“The issue we are talking about is a purely moral issue …if we use the same moral compass to allow him (Atiku) to contest at that time (because he is from the North and chairmanship had been zoned there), it means the presidential candidate must come from the opposite zone, which is the South.
“Now that you (Atiku) took up the ticket, Ayu himself stated completely that once the presidential candidate emerges from the North, he himself would be too happy to resign. So, why are we playing games?” George questioned.
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