KEHINDE FAJOBI
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Iyorchia Ayu, has said he would maintain his position despite calls for his resignation.
Ayu described those calling for his resignation, who are believed to be supporters of Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, as children who are ignorant of how the party came to be.
He stated that he was elected by Nigerians and party members based on the party’s guidelines, saying such calls are coming from political amateurs who lack basic understanding of PDP principles.
There were reports that after losing the PDP presidential primary ticket to Atiku Abubakar who hails from Adamawa, Wike listed conditions for remaining in the party.
One of the conditions as reported is that the party’s chairman Ayu, who is from Benue State in Northern Nigeria, must resign as the candidate and chairman cannot be from the same region.
In response to the resignation calls, Ayu who granted an interview with BBC Hausa said,
“I was voted as PDP national chairman to serve for four years, I am not even a year old on the position.
“Atiku’s victory at the national primaries has no nothing to do with the party’s leadership; I was the bonafide winner of the election. We acted within the dictates of PDP constitution.
“I have not violated any rules; in fact, I am working to bring reforms to the party. I am truly not bothered by the unnecessary controversy being generated.
“I co-founded the PDP in Nigeria and some boys who don’t know how we struggled and what we went through can’t cause problems for the party.
“When we started the PDP, we did not know those boys, they are children, they don’t know why we founded the party. We will not agree with one person to come and destroy our party,” Mr Ayu said.