Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and his supporters have demanded the resignation of the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Iyorchia Ayu, and Deputy National Chairman (North), Umar Damagum, for peace to reign in the party.
The Wike’s allies said both Ayu and Damagum to be resigned and allow Taofeek Arapaja, Deputy National Chairman (South), to be in charge of the party.
The Wike’s allies made the demand when Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the PDP, met with them in London in an attempt to resolve the rift between him and Wike, The Cable reports.
Thursday’s meeting, which was also attended by governors Seyi Makinde, Samuel Ortom and Okezie Ikpeazu, was held at Carlton Hotel in London.
Six PDP governors are thought to be aligned with Wike in his face-off with Atiku who reportedly angered them by saying he did not pick Wike as his running mate because he cannot work with him.
Atiku was accused of being “impolitic”, further worsened by public statements made by former governors Sule Lamido and Babangida Aliyu which Wike’s associates consider “disparaging”.
Lamido described Wike as an “emperor” and said Atiku did not need him to win the presidential election.
Atiku embarked on a frantic trip to the UK to have a parley with Wike — after the latter met with Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), in France, earlier in the week.
The meeting between Wike and Tinubu is said to have explored the possibility of the Rivers governor working for the APC at the polls.
A crisis rocked the boat of the main opposition party after it held its presidential primary election in May.
Party stakeholders expressed concerns that Abubakar ignored Wike after he chose Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Delta, as his running mate.
Wike’s side said Ayu would need to step down for there to be harmony in the opposition party.
“Governors in Wike’s group demanded that Ayu would have to resign for peace to reign in the party. They said he is a divisive figure,” a source close to Atiku said after the meeting.
Ayu openly celebrated when Atiku won the party’s ticket, describing Aminu Tambuwal, Sokoto governor who withdrew to support Atiku, as “the hero of the convention”.
In a counter to the demand for Ayu’s resignation, the former vice-president said Umar Damagum, Deputy National Chairman (North), would become the chairman according to the PDP constitution — meaning another person from the north would hold sway in the party.
But the governors said both would have to resign then and pave the way for Taofeek Arapaja, Deputy National Chairman (South), to be in charge of the party.
“They said it is about consensus for the good of the party. Atiku told them that he would think about it and get back within two weeks,” another source said.
“They also said that in 2011, Okwesilieze Nwodo resigned and paved the way for Haliru Mohammed Bello to become national chairman because the party’s president was coming to the south through Dr Goodluck Jonathan.”
Meanwhile, it has also emerged that some members of the PDP national working committee national (NWC) are pushing for a probe of the party’s finances under Ayu’s watch.
An insider said that some members of the NWC want Ayu to account for the funds that accrued to the party through the sale of forms and donations.
“Some of the NWC members want an audit for about N1 billion that the party got from friends of Atiku, in addition to donates from governors and sale of nomination forms,” the insider said.
The opposition party and APC raked in billions of naira through the sale of forms in the build-up to their primary elections.
