PDP Crisis: Northern Group Backs Wike, Insists Ayu Must Resign

The coalition in a protest at the PDP Secretariat in Kaduna, on Friday, said the national chairman had to keep his promise and resign, following the crisis that the party had faced since former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, clinched the presidential candidate ticket of the party for the 2023 general election.

Spokesperson of the coalition, Mr. Shehu Isa-Dan’Inna, stated that the PDP was not a northern party, but a party for everyone, either from the north or south.

He said, “The PDP is not a Northern Peoples Democratic Party nor Southern Peoples Democratic Party, we have to be just and united, to enable us to win at various levels in the coming 2023 general elections. If the PDP’s internal crisis persist, I do not think we will win the presidential election.

“For the PDP to project transparency as it had always done, the North should not hold about three key positions in the party.”

Isa-Dan’Inna, who noted that some PDP governors and leaders particularly from southern Nigeria were insistent that for fairness, northern Nigeria should not hold both the party’s presidential ticket and national chairmanship position, said the country needed the PDP at the helms of its affairs for overall wellbeing of Nigerians.

He said, “About six governors are fighting one governor. In the south we have about four presidential aspirants cut across different parties which will reduce our votes, and the ruling party as well is strong in the south.

“Wike is also strong, we don’t want to divide our votes, that is why we are calling on Sen. Iyorchia Ayu to resign.

“It will be better for us to loose Ayu as the PDP Chairman and clinch the president seat, than to leave him and loose the presidency,” he added.

He further urged the PDP Board of Trustees and National Working Committee to be just and fair in order to get the party to victory.

“If Ayu keeps to his promise, victory will surely be ours and Nigerians will smile again, the party leaders must act to salvage Nigerians, we don’t want to continue suffering,” he said.

The Punch