PDP Stakeholders Call For National Chairman, Ayu’s Resignation, Give Reasons
Following the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), some stakeholders of the party are calling for its national chairman’s resignation.
According to a report by Daily Independent, this demand from some stakeholders of the party stems from an argument that both the national chairman and the presidential candidate are from the same zone which is not in line with the PDP’s zoning arrangement.
They revealed that it was agreed before the selection of Ayu as the national chairman of the party, he was made to sign an undertaking which would see him resign should any presidential candidate of extraction emerge and allow for a new national chairman from the South.
Ayu had said he was ready to make sacrifices to ensure the PDP won in 2023 and would step down if the party asked him to do so, while speaking with newsmen shortly after his emergence as national chairman.
A former minister from the South-South, who is leading the agitation for Ayu’s resignation, said his group would begin moves to ensure that Ayu honours the agreement and resigns.
“We have written a letter to the national chairman yesterday reminding him of the pact he had with the party leaders if our presidential candidate comes from the North.
“We will also begin to mount pressure on major stakeholders in the party across the country to ensure he abides by the agreement”, he said.
However, one of the governors who played a key role in Ayu’s emergence said the PDP chairman could only be asked to step down after the conduct of the 2023 general elections.
He said, “I don’t see activating it now. It has to be after the election. If we win, then we can do rezoning. We can’t suddenly change the party’s structures when we are planning for a major election. That will be catastrophic,” he said.
Sharing a similar view, Jimi Agbaje, two-time governorship candidate of the PDP in Lagos State, also said it was not the appropriate timing to ask Ayu to step down at a time the party was preparing for a national election and governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun in few days’ time.
“I believe that even the national chairman had said as much. In any case, mine is that if there is going to be a change or the national chairman is going to step down, I am not sure it will be at this point in time. It will be after the general elections when our candidate wins.
“Then, he will step down. But it is not the right time for him to do so when we have elections around the corner. The present national chairman is just settling down to office. We have a campaign ahead and it is going to be a rigorous one because we are in the opposition.”
Atiku, who was the party’s presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential election is the Peoples Democratic Paty’s candidate for the 2023 presidential election after he defeated other aspirants such as Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Bukola Saraki, former Senate President; Governor Bala Mohammed and others.
