PDP Crisis: Wike ignores BoT chairman’s resignation, says Ayu must go

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has said the resignation of the Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees, Walid Jibrin, cannot stop his quest for the removal of Dr Iyorchia Ayu as the Chairman of the party.

Wike said this at the Commissioning of the Ahoada Campus of the State University of Science on Thursday.

Wike said shortly after the PDP Presidential Primaries in May, Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar, Presidential Candidate of the Party, visited him in his Abuja residence and told him in person that Ayu must vacate his position as party Chairman.

“When we finished our convention on Saturday the presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar came to see me in my house in Abuja on Monday around 10.30am. He told me I want us to work together and then, he said, ‘Look, Ayu must go.’ I said ‘Why ?’ He said because when a candidate comes from the north, the Chairman will come from south. And I am saying , implement what you told me. What offence have I committed it has nothing to do with Wike, it has to do with integrity.

I challenge the presidential candidate to deny this. If he denies this, I will go further to say so many things to Nigerians because enough is enough. This fight we will fight it to the end.

“Some of you don’t know what is happening. You are being deceived; they are telling you Wike is causing problem. Wike is not causing problem; Wike is bringing peace to the country. Wike is advocating for justice, Wike is advocating for equity, and Wike is advocating for fairness.

“We have finished with presidential primary. It is over and it is over. So, when people say, ‘You want to destroy the party because you didn’t win the primary’, I think they are sick, they have some mental problem.”

The governor further described as an insult, statement credited to former governor of Niger State, Babangide Aliyu, that he (Wike) is destroying the party because he lost the primary to Atiku.

“In a contest, there must be a winner, there must be a loser. I have no regrets. We contested election very well and we are not ashamed,” Wike said.

“When the North-Central met in the house of Governor Bala Mohammed, governor of Bauchi State, he (Ayu) said so there. When the he met the caucus of the Senate, he told them that.”

“They have today told the BoT chairman to resign. Who is talking about the chairman of BoT? What is the role of the BoT? BoT is an advisory body. We have never zoned BoT. BoT is an advisory body; BoT is not a decision-making body.

“Those who run (the party) as it is today is the presidential candidate and the chairman of the party. The chairman of the party and the candidate or the President as the case may be are the ones that take decisions.

“The candidate is from the north, the chairman is from the north. Who will represent the south in the decision-making of the party? You have taken the candidate of the party. Yes, we have agreed. You can’t take the two major positions of a party. You cannot,” he added.