PDP BoT orders Ayu to resign after election

The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the national chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu to resign his position, after the 2023 presidential election.

Acting chairman of the BoT, Adolphus Wabara, stated this in a communique after the meeting of the BoT, at the party secretariat, in Abuja on Friday.

Wabara stated that the special BoT meeting also called on all party leaders and persons close to them, to desist from making further provocative remarks or granting press interviews.

The BoT directed the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum to convene a meeting of the governors without further delay. They called on leaders of the party to match words with action and where commitments are made to unconditionally fulfil the same.

The BoT also urged “the national chairman as an eminent leader to give a firm assurance that he will resign his position after the 2023 elections.

“In the same vein the BoT chairman has been authorised to offer apologies on behalf of all members who feel maligned or aggrieved by the public statements made by its members across the country that has sharpened the current division in the party.

The BoT also called on the “presidential candidate to review its appointments of members of the campaign council and other advisory appointments to make it all inclusive.

The BoT said it will “refer some of these recommendations for noting and appropriate action to the NEC of our party in due course.”

Wabara had at the commencement of the meeting, said it was called to receive the reports of the BoT committee set up to look into the lingering crises between the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike and Iyorchia Ayu across the six geopolitical zones. “I’ve had the liberty with your support of choosing six members of this special reconciliation committee,” Wabara said.

He said “the election is for PDP to win if the party is united, or “lose if we are not united”

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“So, the aim of this special committee primarily was to find a way of bringing everybody on this big umbrella. No vote is too small. As a matter of fact, all votes are equal. But then when you start counting, that is what brings you victory.

“We operated on the principle of give and take, sacrifice. We know that a lot of ego has been hurt on both sides but we should do all in our powers to ensure that we sheath our swords and aim at the main thing. The report is what we are presenting to you today for your consideration.

The BoT chairman said members “ should be seen to be free and fair, bold, courageous with whatever decisions we are going to take, provided, it will ultimately take us to the villa.

“If we don’t, if we don’t get to the villa, we will be disappointing ourselves as a party and we will also be disappointing Nigeria and Nigerians.

“The happiness is that this umbrella is covering all of us, even the aggrieved ones, we are all under the same umbrella. Well, it’s just a question of a little bit of sacrifice and understanding.

The party chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, in his response said he decided not to respond to encourage altercations in the party.

He, however, vehemently denied collecting money, adding that “I want to make it clear that at no time did I as the national chairman of the party collect any N1bn from anybody.

Explaining how money was collected, Ayu recalled that “when we came in and the party had funding difficulties, the presidential candidates suggested that we should take a loan from the bank and the owner of that bank is a member of the party, he has even left the party. The party never took any loan from anybody.

He disclosed that “any money advanced to the party was declared before the NWC and handed over to the national treasurer. All our accounts are up to date and we promised to publish the accounts at the end of the year.

“On today’s allegations, I fully briefed the BoT that one of our governors made a contribution of N100m for the revival of the PDI which was housed in a porta-cabin and I explained to them that we hired an appropriate place in Asokoro. We have furnished it, renovated it.

“We have inspected it and the NWC decided that before commissioning we should invite the governor in question to come and inspect what we have done with his contribution.

“I am happy that the national secretary of the party has since written a letter to that governor. Either I or the NWC never took any money to carry out that renovation. In fact, we have not even exhausted that N100 million by one of the governors.

Speaking on the consistent attack on his person since the end of the convention on May 31, Ayu said “I have refrained from reacting as the father of the party; I felt I should encourage reconciliation.

“But where it touches on my personal integrity or even my family members are brought into play, I appeal to such people to desist from trying to malign my character or bring my family into party affairs” he said.