Governor of Rivers State Nyesom Wike has challenged PDP National Chairman Iyorchia Ayu to stop any party candidate from running in an election if he believes he has the authority to do so.
Governor Wike was addressing a press conference at his home in Port Harcourt on Sunday in response to Senator Ayu's recent remark that he has the authority to disqualify any contender, particularly one from Benue State, in light of the assaults on his person.
Nyesom Wike
Ayu reportedly made the statement in his Tiv dialect, while speaking on Friday, to the audience that welcomed him home in Gboko, adding that no one could remove him from his position.
However, Wike feels that the remark does more harm than good to the PDP's reputation at a time when the party needs the public's support to save Nigeria.
“He has now come into the office, seen money, seen power, now he can open his mouth to say he could have stopped Ortom. And he said he can also stop any contestant now. We dare him. I dare Ayu to stop any contestant if he has what it takes,” he said.
Wike condemned Ayu's refusal to step down as the PDP national chairman as well as his inability to account for party funds.
“Why is he (Ayu) not resigning? He is hoping Nigerians would donate money to the party so he would again superintend over that money.
"He has already finished over N11 billion in party primaries money. Account for it, he says the public should go into the account. We say show us the money. Print the account of PDP, and let the world see how you expended the money.
The governor lamented that Ayu could talk about stopping contestants when the PDP should be working very hard to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
"This is the party all of us have labored to take over power from ruling All Progressives Congress that has done badly.
"Then the national chairman would open his mouth to talk about stopping contestants. Ayu shouldn’t dare.
"He knows he can’t do it, knows he has no such power. He is just playing to the gallery. He tried it in Rivers state, came to manipulate, and tried to put some guber aspirants, but we saw the results. We dealt with him.”
Wike reaffirmed that the calls for Ayu to step down are motivated by the need for inclusion as well as the need for the national chairman to keep his promise.
"For you to be sacked there are procedures to follow. Nobody has said you are sacked. We are saying if at this point you’re a national chairman who has told Nigerians that this is what you do if that happens and you’re running away from doing that, how do you think Nigerians will now believe you if you tell them to vote for your party?” the governor asked.
Image: The Punch.
Wike said that his major interest is for the PDP to win and noted that Ayu's remark that nobody can sack him shows impunity.
"If you say you will not honor or keep to integrity, we have no problem with that thing that is giving you confidence. What we are saying is that we want our party to win, but if you think you can do without keeping to promises you have made, so be it. Saying nobody can sack him tells you the impunity in him.”
He alleged that Ayu was being unappreciative to Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom who played a major role in his emergence as the PDP national chairman.
"I heard when he said he could have stopped Ortom from running for election. You see how ungrateful human beings can be. This was the same Governor Ortom who pleaded with us to say I can take the risk of letting Ayu become national chairman, without being greedy.
“The agreement by PDP governors was that no national chairman should come from where a governor comes from. We agreed on that, but Ortom came. And as a man we respect, he said I want to promote my people in national politics. We said okay, on your honor we let him (Ayu) be,” he said.
"This is a man who never campaigned anywhere, never printed a poster to be national chairman. Even money they gave him to print posters, he never printed any. And he (Ayu) is the one saying if he wanted to stop who brought him, a man who stood as a guarantor for him, he could have done so.”
Wike and his allies have led the push to have Ayu resign saying it is against the party's constitution for the national chairman to be from the same zone as the presidential candidate.
Ayu is from the north-central Nigerian state of Benue, whereas Atiku Abubakar, the PDP's front-runner, is from the northeastern Nigerian state of Adamawa.
Wike had also alleged that the PDP national chairman was "very corrupt" and unreliable when it comes to handling funds received for the party.
He said Ayu received N1 billion from a presidential aspirant and another N100 million from a governor to execute a project that the party had previously funded.
The PDP national chairman has denied
any wrongdoing.
Politics and Opinion.
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