Call for Ayu’s resignation mere distraction, reconciliation ongoing – NPS

By Tunde Opalana

The call on Dr. Iyorchia Ayu to resign his position as National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been described as total distraction that cannot do the party any good.

National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba said the internal mechanism structure of the party is strong enough to resolve pending misunderstanding among stakeholders.

He therefore said though opinions of members are recognized as personal to them, they do not reflect the aggregate opinions of PDP members.

Apparently reacting to an expression by a former Deputy National Chairman (South) of the party, Chief Bode George on the fate of Ayu, the party’s publicist said views of the elder Statesman are personal to him but do not represent the views of majority of party members.

Ologunagba, in a chat with correspondents at the PDP secretariat, Abuja Wednesday evening said: “We respect his views but his views cannot be equated with the view of the majority of Our members.

“The view of a member no Matter how highly placed cannot equate that of the majority of members.

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“Right now, we need to recognize the need for the party to remain united. We have a system, a robust conflict resolution mechanism, we are getting to our destination which is peace in the party and the resolution of our security challenges nationwide.“

Rather than speculating division in the party by calling for the chairman’s removal, he said every hand should be on deck to work together to attain victory at the poll in 2023.

The NPS who commended the internal dispute resolution mechanism of the party said PDP cannot afford any division at this time because it was evident that Nigerians are interested are looking up to PDP to rescue the nation from the misrule of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said: “We don’t want to go into the election with a constitutional crisis, we have barely six months to the election.

“Even if you say Ayu should go today, his replacement comes from the same north.

“There has been a precedence, when (Umaru) Yar’adua became our candidate (2007), Ahmadu Alli, a fellow northerner was national chairman and remained so until the party won the 2003 elections.

“Several organs of the party have met at different occasions and have passed vote of confidence on his leadership and the National Working Committee.

“Elections are coming and we don’t need a distraction. You can’t destroy the whole for a part, we respect people’s rights and positions but going into negotiations, you cannot say it is either this or nothing.

“It means you’re not ready to negotiate, we don’t have that in our party, and we are all interested in the survival of our party and our nation Nigeria. We will look at the need to do balancing.”

He also described as untrue insinuation that the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, plans to defect from the PDP.

Ologunagba said the governor “Is an important member of this party, he is a man who has invested so much in this party, he has also harvested so much from the party, the party has also promoted him.

“He has said in so many fora that he is a committed party man and has remained loyal to the party since inception.

“Before the presidential primaries which he contested, he told the whole world that he was ready to respect the outcome of the elections. I have no evidence that he has changed his mind.”