By Akinwale Kasali
The crisis rocking opposition Party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has deepened with the call for the resignation of the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu getting intensified.
The crisis in the Party is unconnected to the outcome of the party’s Presidential Primary where Atiku Abubakar emerged as the Presidential Candidate of the party.
Some members of the Board of Trustees, BoT, are angry with the Choice of a running mate to Atiku.
The aggrieved BoT are said to be angry over the Party’s decision to settle for Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta State Governor as running mate to Atiku against Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, who was runner up to Atiku in the Primary and was also recommended by the party as vice president nominee.
The consensus among such members is that Wike should have been picked for the position, due to his contribution to the party, and the fact that majority of the members of the committee set up to deliberate on the issue chose Wike.
Governor Ortom of Benue stare had revealed, last week, that 14 of the 17 members voted for Wike to be Atiku’s running mate.
The angry BOT members are now gunning for Ayu who they believed was also instrumental on how Okowa emerged.
The are calling on the chairman to resign his position before the start of campaigns.
One BoT member who claimed anonymity said; “As we know, the agitation for power shift has closed and what happened at the convention was a disaster.
“Having said that, it is now the responsibility of the new leader of the party to take the gauntlet and lead the move for reconciliation.
“Reconciliation should not be done through a third party. That is why some of us who love the party have been meeting and calling for calm.
“All the vituperations they are firing up and down in anger will not help the party. We are not yet in the Villa, we are still in the opposition, and that is why he (Atiku) should take the gauntlet and lead the team for serious reconciliation”.
The aggrieved BoT members insisted that the PDP National Chairman must resign from his position for peace to reign.
He said: “Ayu should not lead this reconciliation. Ayu, as a person, should leave because once the presidential candidate emerges from one side of the country, the Chairman must come from the other zone.
“Ayu should pack his things and go. He should not say he will go it after the 2023 elections. For him to say that he will go after elections shows he is rubbing salt upon injury.
“How does he want to go to the South and campaign? What are we going to tell the people of the South? The candidate is from the North, the Chairman is also from the North, while the BoT Chairman is from the North. Has that ever been the face of the party? Why are they struggling to destroy the party?
“Everybody must be carried along because the PDP is not the private company of anybody. We need to sit and solve the problems of this country.”
