To Sack  National Chairman Anytime Wike Sneezes, Is Not Good For Our Party – Dele Momodu, PDP Chieftain

By Adesina Soyooye

Wike summons Stakeholders meeting

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dele Momodu, has said that the removal of the National Chairman of the Party, each time the Governor of Rivers State sneezes is not good for the Party.

In the instant case where Wike is holding the Party to ransome unless the National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu steps down, Momodu, a former Presidential aspirant, said it would present the Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as weak if Ayu steps down just because Wike said so.

Wike has been at loggerheads with Atiku and the PDP since after his defeat at the Presidential Primary by Atiku, and after a second loss to the Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, in the race for the Vice Presidential slot.

He and his Camp insist that Ayu, a Northerner, must step down for a Southerner since Atiku is also a from the North. But speaking on Wednesday in Porthacourt, former Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang, said the process that produced Atiku was corrupted by Ayu,  Wike was short-changed, and for peace to reign, Ayu must step down.

Wike and his Camp have withdrawn from the membership of the PDP Presidential Council due for inauguration next week.

But speaking on Arise Television on Thursday, Momodu, Publisher of Ovation Magazine, asked Wike to calm down. He said it is not possible for Atiku to unilaterally remove Ayu from office. Momodu also raised the alarm that so much pressure was being piled on the Presidential candidate.

Momodu, “My own worry is that we seem to be putting so much pressure on Alhaji Atiku Abubakar like he can unilaterally remove the Chairman of the Party. Even if he should do that, a lot of us will feel vilified. He cannot do it and all he can do us to speak to Dr Ayu and we don’t know what is going on between all of them.

“I know nobody will like to be seen in that light. Like everytime Governor Wike says you must go, you must go. It is a psychological thing as well for the Party. It doesn’t work that way. Some of these things, we have discussed privately with some of our Party members, and we believe that nobody should attempt to make our candidate look so weak or like someone that can just be pushed around.

“I mean, can I go to Governor Wike’s State and just tell him to go and sack the State’s Party Chairman? He doesn’t have the power to do so. It can’t happen. So, that is my position.”

Wike led the onslaught against the immediate past National Chairman of the Party, his kinsman, Uche Secondus. He insisted Secondus must go, and he did. Wike boasts about it. Instructively, Wike was instrumental to Secondus’ ascension to that office. When Wike got tired of Secondus, he engineered his sack.

Will PDP move on without Wike and risk losing Rivers State and a couple of other States which Governors support Wike? Or, will Wike lose the battle to sack Ayu? Will he still remain in the Party. Not a few people in the Party  are tired of him.

Meanwhile, Wike  summoned a meeting of Rivers State PDP Stakeholders on Thursday.

Will Wike, finally, dump the party after the meeting? Can he risk it? Where will he go to? APC, LP, or stay put in PDP, work against it, and see that the Party loses the Presidential election? Time will tell.