The crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) finally boiled over on Wednesday when a group led by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State formally withdrew from the Presidential Campaign Council over the refusal of the chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to step aside and pave way for a Southern successor. The group insisted that the continued occupation of the chairmanship position by the North, which also has the presidential ticket, was unfair to the South and could not be accepted. This point has been the cause of the conflict that has racked the leading opposition party in the last few months. With the new development, observers believe that the PDP is going into the election campaign a divided house – devoid of cohesion and unity of purpose.
The Dangerous Pull-Out
The Wike group took Its decision at a meeting held on Wednesday morning in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
It said It would not participate in the presidential campaign of its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, except chairman Ayu resigned his position for a Southerner to step in to bring back balance or equity in the party.
Instructively, the meeting was attended by very prominent members of the party, including former and serving governors from the South and Middle Belt.
The decisions taken at the meeting, which took place at Wike’s residence, were read by former deputy national chairman, Chief Bode George. According to them, the decisions were non-negotiable.
Curiously, the May presidential primary organized by the party echoed once again. The group accused Ayu of compromising the May 28 and 29 presidential primaries through his conduct just as they faulted the appointment and announcement of the presidential campaign council members.
Bode George expressed the group’s anxiety over the dispute in the party and noted the potential of their existing conflict-resolution mechanism. He said: “We resolve that we are deeply concerned by the division in our party. We are aware that over the years our party has developed conflict resolution mechanisms that guarantee inclusiveness.
“The published presidential campaign council list translates to putting the cart before the horse. The pertinent issue remains the resolution of the leadership which is a departure of….
“Senator Iyorchia Ayu must resign as the National Chairman of the party for an acting Chairman of the Southern Nigerian extraction to emerge and lead the party on the national campaign. Consequently, we resolve not to participate in the campaign council in whatever capacity until the resignation of Dr. Iyorchia Ayu.”
Another ally of Wike and former Plateau State governor, Senator Jonah Jang, lampooned Ayu for embracing Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tanbuwal, and calling him the hero of the convention. Jang said the action of Ayu showed that the outcome of the primary was preplanned to short-change the other contestants.
He said: “For a National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu to go and embrace Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tanbuwal, calling him the hero of the convention meant that there was a private arrangement that was done with Tambuwal to shortchange other contestants, including Governor Wike.
“Here was a referee who helped one of his sides to score a goal and then blew the whistle. This is not what we formed the PDP to do for Nigerians. Therefore, we unequivocally ask that Ayu step down.”
The pro-Wike group said their support for Wike was not because he lost the presidential primary or because he was not chosen as the running mate to Atiku but in the interest of equity and justice in the party.
On his part, former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, said: “You cannot build on a faulty foundation. This call for the chairman to step down or resign is not because any of us is aggrieved but because we believe it is important to ensure a just, fair, principled, and constitutional structure for the party. If we want to restructure Nigeria, we should have the courage to restructure our party.”
The Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, said: “We hope that the powers that be listen to the voice of reason and do the needful.”
Atiku Insists On Constitutional Process
Responding to the development shortly after, Atiku expressed surprise at the withdrawal of the group from the presidential campaign and called on them to reconsider their decision, while stressing the need for unity at this critical time of the party’s effort to return to power and address the current national malaise.
The presidential candidate repeated his position that it was Ayu’s prerogative to choose to remain as chairman or resign, and that any move to remove him by party members must follow a constitutional process.
He stated his position In a statement entitled, ‘Let Us Join Hands and Move on with the Task of Nation Building’.
Part of it read: “Early this morning, my attention was drawn to a news clip in which several very senior and influential members of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), addressed the press and, amongst other things, declared that they are withdrawing, forthwith, from the Presidential Campaign Council set up by our party to judiciously plan and prosecute the general elections set to hold in February and March 2023, on the one hand; and reiterated their earlier calls for the resignation or removal from office of the national chairman of our party, Senator Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, on the other hand.
“The people that addressed the press must have their reasons for withdrawing from the Presidential Campaign Council, and I will not speculate as to what those reasons may be. Personally, I am quite surprised with this withdrawal because, as I have been informed by officials of our party, apart from the Rivers State chapter of the PDP, all the remaining states of the federation submitted names of people who they wanted to be included in the Presidential Campaign Council.
“On the calls for the resignation or removal from office of our national chairman, however, I must reiterate what I have said severally in public and in private; the decision for Dr. Iyorchia Ayu to resign from office is personal to Dr. Ayu and, neither I nor anyone else can make that decision for him. As to the calls for the removal of Dr. Ayu from office, however, I will state that, as a committed democrat and firm believer in the rule of law and democratic tenets, and our party being one set up, organized and regulated by law and our constitution, it is my absolute belief that everything that we do in our party must be done in accordance with, and conformity to, the law and our constitution.
“If Dr. Ayu is to be removed from office, it must be done in accordance with the laws that set out the basis for such removal. In any event, you will all recall that the very body that is empowered by law to initiate this removal from office, has already passed a vote of confidence in him.
“Now, our nation is currently in the throes of a multidimensional crisis encompassing insecurity, economic meltdown, disunity and mutual mistrust and educational dislocations, to mention a few. I have a plan to address these issues and I have, graciously, been given the ticket to lead our great party in next year’s presidential elections, with the singular mandate to come and lead the efforts to cure these ills. It is in this light that I have reached out to every single member of our great party to join me in the massive undertaking required to reset the ship of state and help rebuild our country.
“Every single person who loves this country, as I do, is needed for the arduous tasks that face us ahead as a nation, and this includes every member of the PDP. And it is my fervent hope and prayer that every man and woman of goodwill will join hands with us to help rebuild and reposition our beloved country. In this light, therefore, I will urge those members of our party that has stated their resolve to withdraw from the Presidential Campaign Council to rethink, retrace their steps, and join us in these efforts.
“The above notwithstanding, and for the sake of our country, our children, and those yet unborn, we must not, for one minute, shirk in our responsibilities to rebuild this beloved country of ours.
“Accordingly, we must forge on with the task and the mandate that we have been bestowed with. It is time, therefore, to move on with the formidable tasks of nation-building ahead of us.
“May God guide us all, and may God soothe our great party, and our dear country.”
PDP’s Emergency Meeting
Similarly, following the action of Governor Wike and his allies, the leadership of the PDP convened an emergency meeting same day in Abuja. The party spokesman, Debo Ologunagba, said the party had been meeting since Wike’s camp announced their withdrawal from the campaign council, adding that the National Working Committee would later announce their decision today (Thursday).
“As a party, we need to take a firm position to rebuild and rebrand our party. We have been in a marathon meeting since morning (Wednesday). But one thing is clear, no one has rejected our presidential candidate; that is very important. The meeting will continue tomorrow (today) and after the meeting, we will make our position clear,” he stated.
As the disputes in the party heightened, a former governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Makarfi, called for collective efforts to build bridges and bring everyone on board for the tasks ahead of the party.
Makarfi, a member of the PDP NEC, said: “I really wouldn’t want to make matters worse. Some of us have roles to play behind the scene to overcome any problem.”
Like Makarfi, the immediate past National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, tasked members to give peace a chance, adding that regardless of the challenges before the party, they were not insurmountable.
“No matter the level of disagreement, issues can and should be resolved within the party,” he told The PUNCH on Wednesday.
Also speaking, a chieftain of the party in the South-West, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, urged the PDP leaders and stakeholders to do everything possible to ensure that Wike does not leave the party.
“We can’t afford to see Governor Wike leave the PDP as that would be disastrous. There is no need for this crisis, if you ask me. Those who truly love this party and who are the cause of this crisis know what to do.
“No sacrifice is too much for the party. They must put the party first and do the right thing and the right thing is equity, fairness and justice,” he noted.
Determined To Fight On
On Thursday, Governor Wike was reported to have declared that he would not leave the PDP but fight to the end. The governor was said to have stated that he would stay back to fight for the enthronement of unity, equity, and peace in the party.
According to reports, Wike made the declaration at the Rivers State PDP stakeholders meeting in Government House, Port Harcourt.
The governor said he was a man of character, unlike those who could not keep their word and walked out of the party at the Eagle Square in Abuja in 2014.
He was quoted to have said: “One thing I have always told people is if anybody is thinking, doing anything to think that we will leave PDP, foul.
“We will do the fight in the party. We are not like them when in 2014 they walked out of Eagle Square. They’ve forgotten. They walked out and joined APC. Is it not correct?
“Did they remain to fight inside the party? But we remained, they ran away. Now, there is a fight in the party, we will not run.
“We will fight it at this party. Those who run away from the fight are weak people. We will not. So, everybody should know this is the state where we are, so that nobody tells you all kinds of stories.”
The governor Insisted that the constitution of the party clearly stated that elective and party offices be zoned, and said this should be respected.
Wike wondered why the former PDP BOT chairman would be pressured to resign but the PDP National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, is excusing himself from keeping to doing what is right.
“You have taken presidential candidate, you have taken party chairman, you have also taken the DG (Director General) of the campaign. We are talking about party politics. Decisions are made by the presidential candidate, chairman of the party, and the DG of the campaign.
“They are telling you they told the chairman of the BOT to resign. So you know there is a problem. You said he should go and resign. You can put pressure on him to resign when his tenure hasn’t come to an end, but you cannot put pressure on the chairman to resign. You think at our level you will deceive us. You will tell us stories,” he was reported to have said.
Meanwhile, chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum and Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, has assured leaders and members of the party that all the disputes in the party would be resolved. Tambuwal gave the assurance after a meeting with the Senator Adolphus Wabara-led PDP Board of Trustees, in Abuja, on Thursday.
Interestingly, members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who have been trying to take advantage of the crisis in the opposition to strengthen their own position have consistently attacked the PDP leadership while supporting Governor Wike whom they have been making overtures to. One of the voices of the APC who have variously shown interest in the PDP crisis is a former staunch member of the party and former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode. In a recent intervention, he urged the group to dump the PDP which he referred to as a carcass and move over to the APC.
In a statement he titled ‘A Word for the Wike Group: Leave the Carcass and Stand with Us!’ he said: “Honestly, my sympathies, heart and pity go out to the Wike group. They are being treated like filth by their own party. They literally had no choice but to pull out of the Atiku campaign.
“Yet I saw all this coming long ago. Why do you think I left the PDP in the first place? It is a party that is incapable of rewarding loyalty and keeping its word. It is a party that begins and ends in the North and every Southerner and Middle Belter that is still there is nothing but a quisling and a stooge.
“It is a party that does not believe in or understand the importance of building bridges of peace, love and understanding between the North and the South and ensuring fairness, justice and equity for all.
“It is a party that does nothing but insult and seek to marginalize and destroy its perceived detractors and enemies and putting Nigeria in its hands would mean the end of our country within a matter of months.
“This is not the PDP of OBJ, UMYA or GEJ. This is a dying and decaying fly and maggot infested carcass and a pitiful shadow and shell of its former self.
“A party with no morals or decency that treats those that stood by it, helped it and fought for it over the years with contempt and disdain.
“A party that uses and dumps. A party that seeks to deride, misrepresent and humiliate all those that once stood in the trenches with them and fought for their cause.”
Regardless, Wike and his allies have vowed not to run away from the party but fight it out with their membership intact. So, the best the APC appeals could achieve is to intensify or buoy the internal wrangling and render the opposition ineffective at the coming polls.
With the PDP crisis getting worse by the day, it is safe to conclude that the party will begin its campaigns next week on a very weak note and possibly lose the steam it needs.
(Courtesy: Sunday Independent)
