PDP May Lose Southern Support Over Iyorcha Ayu (independent)

LAGOS – There are hints from southern big wigs in the Peoples Democrat­ic Party (PDP) that the unsettled issue of Iyorcha Ayu retaining the chairman­ship of the party after a fellow northerner, Atiku Abubakar, emerged as presidential can­didate may cost them a large southern support at the 2023 polls.

Recall that since the emer­gence of Atiku Abubakar, a northerner, as the PDP’s pres­idential candidate, there have been calls for Ayu, the National Chairman, also a northerner, to vacate his seat for a Southerner.

Despite the calls, there are feelers that the PDP National Chairman plans to stay on to lead the party to the 2023 gener­al elections, a move which has caused tension in the party still grappling with the fall-outs of the presidential primary.
­chia Ayu, in the interest of jus­tice, should immediately resign as the PDP National Chairman.

Hear him: “It is not fair to have both the presidential and national chairman from the northern zone. It will make the opposition PDP look highly unserious and unprepared for leadership.

“Let us not forget the Asa­ba Declaration for a Southern Presidency under the chair­manship of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa last year. His agreeing to be Atiku’s running mate will definitely split the votes as a Fulani wants to succeed another Fulani. Where’s the justice?

“Ayu should immediate­ly resign and a southerner should succeed him for justice to reign supreme. Governor Nyesom Wike (who came sec­ond during the PDP presiden­tial primary, but was rejected by Atiku as his running mate) in compensation, may be made the chairman of the party so that there will be focus.”

Ambassador Dr. Kalu Ofon Emmanuel, the Lagos State Chapter President, Interna­tional Human Rights Protec­tion Service, Florida, USA, in his response, maintained that having two influential people in PDP from the same geopo­litical zone is absolutely ques­tionable, whether there are calls to vacate the seat or not.
According to him, “The presidential candidate and a party’s National Chairman are all Northerners. The car­dinal question is: Are there no other people from other tribes or geo-political zones capable of occupying the seat should Dr. Iyorcha Ayu vacate it?

“I would only give my per­sonal support if the party is constituted by Northerners alone. For the fact that the party is holistic and a combi­nation of multiple tribes and geo-political zones, Dr. Ayu should vacate the seat before the 2023 elections.

“Waiting till after the elec­tions may bring fractions, cri­sis, and conflicts in the party. Not everyone in the party is happy about Atiku Abubakar as presidential candidate and Dr. Iyorchia Ayu as party na­tional chairman, as both of them are Northerners occu­pying the cardinal and influ­ential positions in the party.

“If PDP would be trans­parently considerate without tribalism and sectionalism in mind, then a Southerner is qualified for the seat of Dr. Ayu, forthwith.”

Dr. Francis Ujunwa Sim­eon, a Lagos-based public affairs commentator and the International Secretary, Chris­tian Association of Igbo Minis­ters Worldwide (CAIM), in his reaction, stated that the PDP is taking the South for granted.

He recalled that the South/ Middle Belt Forum and the Southern Governors’ Forum resolved that power should shift to the South, especially, the Southeast come 2023 and con­sequently urged the two major political parties, PDP and APC, to pick their presidential candi­dates from the South ahead of the 2023 elections.

Dr. Simeon stated: “The APC complied and picked its presidential candidate from the Southwest. But, the PDP reneged on the gentleman’s agreement and picked its pres­idential candidate from the North, the virulent criticisms from the South notwithstand­ing.”
He lamented that even Dr. Ayu, the PDP Nation­al Chairman who had promised to step down if a Northern presidential candidate emerged, still refused to do so till now, hence both the Na­tional Chair­man and the presidential candidate of the party are North­erners.

Dr. Simeon stressed: “The Southeast feels betrayed that the party did not zone the presi­dency to its region despite over 22 years of loyalty to the par­ty. So, the PDP is on the verge of losing its stronghold in the Southeast.

“The only way out now is for the PDP to drop Ayu immedi­ately and zone the National Chairmanship to the South­east to pacify the region, since the Southsouth has already clinched the vice presidential ticket. The PDP should act fast. Time is running out.”

On his own, Dr. Rexkennedy Saltlove, a public affairs ana­lyst and President/Executive Director, Citizens Rights and Empowerment Advocacy Ini­tiative (CREMA Initiative) stat­ed that the PDP has made itself a party people should not take seriously, due to it topsy-turvy approach to balance of power or positions it has adopted.

He said: “By violating its own rotational principle as en­shrined in its constitution and the party insider agreement, it has started to create a body of men whose words cannot be trusted.

“For, if they can do this to themselves, how do we trust them to keep their word to the citizens, if it emerg­es victorious in the election?

“The National Chairmanship going North was obviously done in anticipation that the party’s presidential flag bearer will emerge from the South.

“Now that for whatever reason, the party’s flag bear­er is from the North, there is no moral or constitutional (party wise) rights for Dr. Iyorchia Ayu to still retain the chairman.

“He should have stepped down the moment Atiku emerged without being told and without the infighting which is now putting pres­sure on him

“Staying in power till after the 2023 elections will defi­nitely create factions and frac­tions that will work against the party’s victory.”

Hon. Charles Anike, Na­tional President, Eastern Union (EU), in his reaction, maintained that since the emergency of Atiku Abuba­kar, a Northern, as the PDP presidential candidate, Dr. Iy­orcha Ayu ordinarily should not have waited for someone to remind him that he should resign his position voluntari­ly as the National Chairman of the party.

Anike stressed: “His con­tinued stay on that seat shows how incapable the PDP can­not manage i t s members a n d how unfair and unjust the party has become. The PDP is actually a party in search of its soul.

“The ideals of the found­ing fathers of the party have been compromised, so things have fallen apart in the PDP, therefore we do not expect the centre to hold.

“Self-centred and inordi­nate ambitious members of the party, who go in and out of the party at will, are responsi­ble for the unending crisis of the party.

“Remember that after the charade purported to be presidential primary, where normal processes and rules were undermined and where dollars and tribalism were the deciding factor, the party has and is still unable to settle the crisis it opted for.

“The Wike faction is unre­lenting, based on genuine and verifiable dishonesty within the leadership of the PDP.

For Dr. Ayu to have open­ly commended Gov. Aminu Tambuwal, who betrayed and undermined the process to favour Al­haji Atiku Abu­bakar, showed that he was biased and not neu­tral, and therefore have no business remain­ing the National Chairman.

“ T h e PDP from the onset showed that it is plan­ning to return to power come 2023, and this was when it threw caution to the wing to undermine the zoning ar­rangement, which had helped to sustain the party and main­tain sanity.

“The charlatans in the party ensured that they man­ufactured favourable reasons why zoning should be discon­tinued to satisfy their inordi­nate ambitions.

“That was the beginning of the fall, and the unending crisis that will obviously rob the party the opportunity to return to power come 2023.

“The PDP now and before does not keep to agreements, otherwise, Dr. Ayu should not have waited or remained on that seat up till now.

“He should quit without further delay, though it is too late to cry when the head is cut off. This unfaithfulness in the zoning arrangement is the major reason Mr. Peter Obi and others defected from the PDP to other parties, which of course, was a step in the right direction that will humble the foolishness of PDP come 2023.”

However, Comrade Aluh Moses Odeh, National Lead­er, All Middle Belt Youth Fo­rum (AMBYF), maintained that there is a misconception, which is the grouping of Mid­dle Belt people as Northerners.

“Since Dr. Ayu assumed that position as Northerner, it will be difficult to dissuade those from the South calling for his removal now that a Northerner is the standard bearer of the party.

“Politicians of Middle Belt extraction do not play the game with their true identity as Middle Belt people. They claimed to be Northerners, but when the chips are down, they are the greatest losers.

“Imagine what happened in APC, how we (Middle Belt) lost the bid to produce the vice presidential candidate due to the Northern appendage.

“A group that is dominantly Middle Belt called themselves Northern Christians in APC, with sole aim to decimate the Middle Belt, that Northern at­tachment caused them the vice presidential candidate slot.

“Factually speaking, does PDP still respect her consti­tution by jettisoning zoning principle during the primary?

“So, calling for Dr. Ayu’s removal at this critical time, with some minutes away from general elections, seems to be a suicide mission orchestrated by self-afflicted injury.”