PDP crisis: Ayu stays, nothing anybody can do for now – Atiku

Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Wednesday expressed his view on the call for the resignation of Senator Iyorchia Ayu as the National Chairman of the party.

Atiku, who led other leaders of the party to Ibadan on an interactive session with stakeholders of the PDP, said that the call for the re-composition of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) was not impossible, but only when the constitution of the party has been amended to accommodate such demand.

“The Peoples Democratic Party is the oldest political party in Nigeria since the return of democracy and even before then,” he was quoted as saying in a statement by his media adviser, Paul Ibe. “It is a party that has laid down rules and regulations.

“I have been a member of the party since when it was formed, and I am still a member of the party up to the point of what it has grown to become.”

Amid the increased calls for the resignation of the party’s national chairman, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, while speaking on behalf of the South-West PDP, demanded that Ayu step aside.

In his response, the vice president said, “There is nothing any individual can do to change the outlook of the National Working Committee of the PDP. The PDP is a party where there are laid down rules and regulations.

“What Governor Makinde is asking for is possible only when we have amended our party’s constitution. As things stand today, no single individual has the power to tamper with the NWC of the party. Doing so will be illegal and it will be against our rules in the party.”

According to the presidential candidate, Nigerians will not trust the PDP to govern by the tenets of rule of law if it takes such arbitrary action against itself.

The south-west stakeholders’ interactive session was attended by leaders of the PDP across the six states of the geopolitical zone with a common resolution to ensure victory for the PDP in next year’s general election.

PDP leaders who attended the interactive session included the chief host, Governor Makinde; PDP governorship candidate in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu; former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose; Osun State Governor-elect, Senator Ademola Adeleke; as well as the PDP governorship candidate in Lagos State, Olajide Adediran, and his running mate, Funke Akindele.

Others are Atiku, the PDP vice presidential candidate and Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa; PDP Governors’ Forum Chairman and Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal; former Cross River State governor, Liyel Imoke; PDP Deputy National Chairman (North), Umar Damagum, and PDP National Deputy Chairman (South) Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja, among others.