PDP Crisis: I won’t respond to Wike, says Ayu

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Iyorchia Ayu, has said he will not respond to comments made by Governor Nyesom Wike of the Rivers State.

Ayu and Wike have been locked in a cold war since the Rivers Governor lost the presidential ticket of the opposition party to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

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Ayu had lauded the primary, hailing Governor Aminu Tambuwal who stepped down for Atiku as the hero of the convention.

Wike had subsequently accused Ayu of bias, saying he was unfit to lead the PDP.

He had also asked the PDP chairman to step down, saying it was improper for the PDP presidential flagbearer and chairman to hail from the same zone.

Responding in an interview with BBC, Ayu vowed not to step down. He had said those seeking to oust him were children.

Wike had fired back at Ayu, saying he was an ingrate. He claimed that the former senator was brought to be PDP chairman.

In a statement by Simon Imobo-Tswam, Ayu’s Special Adviser on Media and Communications, the PDP chairman accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of planting stories in the media to compound the crisis rocking the party.

Ayu further said his attention had been drawn to “mischievous and senseless posts on the social media” about him casting aspersions on the person of the Rivers Governor, adding that “nothing can be more diabolical, senseless and amateurish.”

The opposition leader said while he would not descend so low, “We state, categorically and without equivocation, that the posts are completely false. Even the inelegant construction of the posts puts them beneath Ayu.

“Ayu never said anything after Wike’s statements yesterday, and does not intend to say anything in response.”