Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has challenged the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Iyorchia Ayu, to stop any of the party’s candidates from contesting the 2023 elections if he can.
Wike, who spoke to journalists in Port Harcourt on Sunday, was reacting to a statement credited to Ayu that he has power to stop Samuel Ortom or any other candidate in the party from contesting election.
Ortom belongs to Wike’s camp which has been calling for the resignation of Ayu as the only panacea to restore peace in the opposition party.
Addressing his supporters that welcomed him home in Gboko, Benue State, Ayu said, “I have been silent over all the things you are hearing against me because I don’t want any crack in the party I belong to in my state. I have the powers to say you and you will not go anywhere because I will insist that I must sign before you go anywhere.”
But Wike challenged Ayu that the party’s chairman had no power to stop any PDP candidate from contesting election.
Wike insisted that Ayu must honour the agreement reached that he would resign should the party’s presidential candidate emerge from the North.
He said, “The statement credited to the PDP national chairman that he has right to stop any candidate from contesting election is very unfortunate.
“Nobody said that Ayu should be sacked. By our constitution, there is zoning for political parties. There is no way a party’s presidential candidate and the national chairman can come from the same place. Nobody is interested in sacking Dr Iyorchia Ayu, what we are saying is that the national chairman of PDP should concede to the agreement reached that he should resign the moment the presidential candidate emerges.
“Nobody said he is sacking anybody, what we are saying is that he should keep to the agreement. If you say that you are not keeping to the promise, no problem.
“I heard when he said that he would have stopped Ortom (Benue State governor) from contesting, a man that brought you and pleaded that you should be made chairman. Ortom stood as a guarantee for Ayu to become the national chairman of PDP. I dare Ayu to stop anybody from contesting the election.
“Do we really want to win election? The party is really in a dilemma. The presidential candidate of the party comes from the North and if you say that you will not keep to agreement, so be it.
“I will not be a party to anybody that wants to use me to be relevant. I have been in PDP and have never left the party. I dare him (Ayu) again to stop any candidate from contesting election. He knows that he cannot do that, he has no such power. Let him come to Rivers State and stop anybody.”
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