Updated: Wike’s Camp Pulls Out of Atiku’s Campaign Council

The Nation Newspaper

The team of the Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has pulled out of the campaign Council of the party’s presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.

Rising from their stormy meeting in Port Harcourt early morning on Wednesday, members of the team vowed not to partake in Atiku’s campaign activities pending the resignation of the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu.

They insist that the former President of the Senate, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu must resign to pave way for an acting National Chairman of Southern Nigeria extraction to emerge and lead the party’s National Campaign Council for the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

They say the resignation of Ayu whose hands have not been clean is necessary in order to ensure equity, justice and unity in the party.

With the campaigns for the 2023 general elections in Nigeria set to kick off in the next few days, all is not well with the country’s main opposition party, PDP as the crisis rocking the umbrella is far from over.

In spite of the vote of confidence passed on the Ayu-led National Working Committee by the recent meeting of the National Executive Committee of the party, these PDP members insist that “Ayu must go”.

Rising from their meeting held at the country home of Governor Wike, the PDP members who include founding members of the party, Governorship candidates, former Governors, former Ministers and leaders of the party from across the country in a resolution read by former Deputy National Chairman, Olabode George say their position is not negotiable as Ayu’s continuous stay in office undermines the constitution and unity of the party.

They are also accusing Iyorchia Ayu of compromise especially in the role he played during the conduct of the party’s May 28 and 29 Presidential Primary in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

The PDP members are also quick to point out that their support for Governor Wike is not because he lost the Presidential Primary or that he was not picked as the Vice Presidential Candidate of the party but their stance for equity and justice in the PDP.

The latest development is surely another set back for the PDP in its quest to win the 2023 general elections in Nigeria.

And as the show down continues, political watchers warn that the party might just be the architect of its own defeat, if it fails to put its house together.