By Adesina Soyooye
The push by the Rivers State Governor for the resignation, from office, of the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, seems to have fallen flat. It has been aborted. The South-west Chapters have pulled out of the call. They are standing by Ayu. And labeling such calls sabotage against the Party and its chances in 2023.
The arrow head of the push is Wike. He is supported by four of his colleagues and some high profile stakeholders in the Party. Together, they are referred to as Camp Wike. His four colleagues are: Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State. Some of the high profile stakeholders are: Professor Jerry Gana, a Board of Trustee member, Chief Bode George, a former National Vice Chairman, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, a former Governor of Ondo State, Donald Duke, a former Governor of Cross River State, and Ayo Fayose, a former Governor of Ekiti State.
The push for Ayu’s resignation started a couple of weeks after former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, emerged as the Presidential candidate of the Party, beating Wike to a second place. All was quiet until Atiku by-passed Wike and chose Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, as his running mate. Angry, Wike and his Camp gave space to Atiku and the Party. They shunned all activities of the PDP, and to rub it in, Wike began an openly romance Presidential candidates of other Parties. He and his colleagues in his Camp, except Ugwuanyi, raised the antenna by junketting to London twice within a month to hold meetings with three Presidential candidates, including Atiku. Others were Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress.
Before the London meetings, Wike and Ikpeazu had gone on holiday to Istanbul, Turkey.
Wike, also, resorted to flogging Atiku and the PDP at every given opportunity. He talked down on them, and any PDP member in his State who as much as visited Atiku, he punished in his own way. It is a long list.
However, Wike was to publicly say, later, that he had forgotten about his losses at Party Primary as well as the Vice Presidential slot. He said they did not matter to him. What mattered to him and his Camp, he revealed, is the leadership structure of the Party. He said it is lopsided in favor of the North. He said it was unfair for both the Presidential candidate and the Chairman of the Party to come from the same Region. The solution: Ayu must make way, Wike said, for a Chairman from the South.
He also revealed that both Atiku and Ayu had agreed to that before, and immediately after the Convention for the Presidential Primary. He cited, at least, two occasions when Ayu said he would step down if the PDP candidate emerged from the North. He also revealed that Atiku visited him in the morning of the day after the Presidential Primary, and on his own, told him, Wike, that Ayu must step down.
Wike’s anger: Both men have reneged on the agreement. While Atiku said Ayu would go when he wins the Presidency, Ayu is now insisting on his four-year tenure.
At the Party’s National Executive Council, NEC, meeting recently, members gave Ayu a vote of confidence. However the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, BoT, Senator Walid Jibrin, resigned and made way for a Southerner, former Senate President, Dr Adolphus Wabara.
But Wike dismissed that as an insult to the South. He said only the resignation of Ayu from office would do. He said his fight in the PDP is for the South. He said when decisions are taken, it would be between the Candidate and the Chairman only.
But not a few people have reminded Wike that the National Secretary of the Party, Samuel Anyanwu, popular as Samdaddy, is a Southerner and, administratively, the engine room of the Party. They also point out that Anyanwu was put in that position by Wike.
However, things seem to be turning awry for Wike. Many State Chapters are pulling the rug from under his feet. A number of States in the South, which he says he is fighting for, have washed their hands off the call for Ayu’s resignation. They say they stand by Ayu. They say anybody asking for Ayu’s resignation does not mean well for the Party. They say the person wants the Party to lose the Presidential election.
Last week, Makinde of Oyo State, a member of Wike’s Camp, had told Atiku, when the later went to Ibadan to meet the Zonal Executive members and stakeholders of the Party in the South-west, that the demand of the Zone is that Ayu must resign for a Southerner to take over. Makinde said he was speaking for the Zone.
However, the All the States in the Zone have denied him, except Oyo State. They have put a lie to his submission. Osun, Ondo, Ogun, Ekiti, Lagos, all say Makinde is on his own and spoke for himself. They have declared support for Ayu, publicly. Their stand was reinforced on Saturday when the Publicity Secretaries of all the South-west States, except Oyo, addressed a Press Conference in Lagos.
The Publicity Secretaries present were: Hamed Amode, Lagos, Raphael Adeyanju, Ekiti, Kenedy Peretei, Ondo and Bankole Akinloye, Ogun. They described the call for Ayu’s resignation as a sabotage against the Candidate and the Party.
With Ayu, also being backed by most States in the North, and a couple of States from both the South-east and the South-South, many think Wike’s fight for the South has become a mirage. They say he may soon find himself walking, alone, on a lonely path.
