The People’s Democratic Party, PDP, today at its NEC meeting passed a vote of confidence on Iyorchia Ayu as chairman of the party.
With this decision, Ayu will continue as chairman of the party as against the demand of Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike and his group – Okezie Ikpeazu, Seyi Makinde and Samuel Ortom.
The chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, BoT, Walid Jubrin, resigned his position. Senator Wabara was appointed as acting BoT chairman in his place.
Governors Wike, Makinde, Ortom and Ikpeazu did not attend the NEC meeting. Chief Olabode George, South-West leader of the PDP attended the meeting.
The party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar was at the meeting. Also at the meeting was Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal.
The implication of the decision of NEC to vote for the continuation of Ayu as chairman, as against the demands of Wike and his group, means that the crisis in the party may not be resolved soon.
Wike’s group had consistently demanded that the PDP must respect the spirit of the party’s constitution on the balancing of party positions, especially as the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar and the chairman, Ayu, are from the North. The call for Ayu’s resignation is to allow for a new chairman of Southern extraction to emerge.
Ayu’s continued stay in office as chairman is obviously an attempt to call the bluff of Wike ahead of the 2023 elections. Sources within the PDP say Atiku may have heeded the advise of members like Lamido to jettison Wike in his presidential plans.
Certainly, the crisis in the PDP may become intractable, especially considering the vote of confidence passed on Ayu by NEC.