Ayu Must Go Protesters Storm PDP Headquarters, Say He’s a Mole in Party

•PDP BoT meets over Atiku, Wike’s face-off

Chuks Okocha

A group of protesters, yesterday, stormed the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and called on the National Chairman of the party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, to step down as leader of the party. 

This is as the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) has met over the rift between the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.

But members of the PDP BoT believed to be loyal to Wike, however, stayed out of the meeting.

A group, known as Concerned Deltans for Good Governance, stormed the PDP Wadata office over the lingering crisis in Delta State.

Led by Chris Anthony, the group said, “We expect the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under the watch of Ayu to comply with the judgement that has been passed by justice Taiwo Taiwo on the 7th.

“They are playing games with the judgement. The party is supposed to forward the name of the winner of that election based on the court order to INEC but they have deliberately refused to do that because they are working in connivance with the Delta State governor, Okowa as an individual.

“They have refused to comply with the court order. Funny enough, INEC officially wrote to the PDP through their legal adviser that they have received a judgement of this nature and that they (INEC) will do the needful by complying and they also expect the PDP to do same but the PDP, up till his moment, has deliberately decided to abandon what the court said.

“We are all shouting: ‘we want to lead Nigeria’, if you cannot organise your house properly, how do you expect to address the Nigerian problem. If you simply cannot address the minor problem in Delta, then, how do Nigerians trust the PDP to tackle the challenges facing the Nigerian nation in a larger scale.

“We are calling on the leadership of the PDP to do the needful; obey the court order, recognise David… as the governorship candidate of the PDP as the court has so declared.

“The implication of the action of the PDP on the Delta issue is that they are trying to throw away the fortunes of the PDP in Delta. Everybody knows that the PDP in Delta State is the majority party and there is no other political party in Delta State apart from the PDP.

“But with the action of the national chairman of party, we are beginning to be convinced of what people have been saying that, Ayu is a mole in the PDP to throw Delta State PDP to the opposition. We see Ayu as a mole in the PDP. He is playing the script of the APC just to actualise the emergence of APC governor in Delta.

‘He lacks the capacity to lead the PDP and so he should honourably resign. He has demonstrated gross incompetence in handling the affairs of the party. He should resign. Ayu should resign. He does not have the capacity to manage the affairs of the PDP,” he stated.

However, the PDP BoT meeting, presided over by the chairman, Senator Walid Jubrin, and which started around 11.am, lasted till about 2.30 pm.

After the meeting, the BoT mandated Senator Abdul Ningi from Bauchi state to brief the media.

According to him, “the BoT which is the soul of the party resolved to set up a committee of the entire BoT to resolve whatever the crisis that arose from the presidential nomination convention.”

Sources claimed the meeting resolved that the entire Board of Trustees members should proceed to the residence of Atiku to hear his side of the story and thereafter agree when and where to meet Wike.

The members of the PDP BoT that stayed away from yesterday’s BoT meeting were former Minister of Information, Jerry Gana, Senator Zanabe Kure and \Wike.

They were BoT members believed to be loyal to Wike and attended last Sunday meeting by Wike at the Abuja office of Rivers State.