PDP Crisis: Wike, Others Can’t Stop Atiku From Becoming President in 2023
A member of the Peoples Democratic Party’s campaign council and new media head, Anthony Ehilebo has sent a powerful message to the Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike and his supporters over their agitation for the removal of Iyorchia Ayu as the party’s national chairman.
In an exclusive chat with Legit.ng, Ehilebo said that despite the legitimacy of the request for balance, the fact is that it goes against the party’s ethos.
Source: UGC
According to him, the PDP is a national party with a national spread, not a regional party, and must follow its constitution in all its decisions and actions.
Ehilebo warns agitators
He also warned that if the agitators continue to threaten the peace and unity of the party and it loses the 2023 election, all hell will be let loose in ensuring that those behind the loss also lose out in their states.
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He said:
“I hear some people now campaigning that they just want to win their governorship election. One thing we must tell them is that if they, in any way make us lose our presidential election, we, in every way will make sure they lose their governorship election.
"So we are not at the point where one person will lose and another wins. We all have to get together to win. If we win, everybody wins. Their calls are very legitimate, but they need to wait. After we win our presidential election, it then becomes clear that we must rebalance, but not before the presidential election.
“We are not a regional party. We have never had that coloration. But you also have to look at the timing and the individuals involved. You have to look at the intent of these individuals, namely governor Wike and when we talk about Wike, we know that he represents interested parties who have varying degrees of interest.”
No individual can control our party
Ehilebo, who is no 33 member on the list of the PDP campaign council, said party members and leaders should think first about the national interest as against individual interest.
He said that if they feel slighted over any issue, the onus is on them to make their case constitutionally as against going against the rules and casting aspersion on the party.
He also recalled how the party was almost destroyed in 2016 over Sheriff’s saga, cautioning that such should not be allowed to happen.
The PDP chieftain added:
“But at this point, I think the national interest must supersede every other interest. And it’s an ongoing conversation. I think as the candidate said, there are party rules and procedures that we must follow.
“Don’t forget that there was a near-fatal incident in 2016/2017 when the same people who brought Ali Modu Sheriff, realizing that he wasn’t going to do their bidding, and he had his own selfish intention as well opted to kick him out of the party and it to us almost a year going through the judicial process because it’s not easy to remove a chairman, even though he was an acting chairman.
"He had not even become a chairman. And now we have a chairman that was validly elected at a national convention. So removing him will take us back.”
Ehilebo highlights other factors stopping change of leadership
According to him, there are other factors working against the agitation of Wike and his group.
He believes that those factors must be considered, or else they destroy the PDP, saying that even if a national convention is organized before the election, the backlash that will follow will be capable of destroying the party.
He stated:
“There are other factors that I want to mention. The national chairman is from the north central. If you take the north central seat, what happens? In fact, by the constitution, if the national chairman resigns, vice national chairman 1, Damagu who is from the north must replace him. What do you do? You have to tell Damagu to go. If Damagu is removed, it then means the secretary has to go. You are going to deprive Benue. You are going to deprive Imo of their positions. What do you then do?
“And it’s too critical a junction to be making this kind of knee-jer.k reaction because if you remove any vital position from a region, you have disenfranchised them in terms of party sharing. Yes, we understand that there is a gap. The southwest does not hold anything tangible within the party, but the southwest clearly, in support for Atiku yesterday said they were with him. Even Makinde when he asked them, they told him it was Atiku and Okowa they want."
Wike, others' grievances
The Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike and four other governors including governors Seyi Makinde, Samuel Ortom, Ifeanyi Ugwanyi and Okezie Ikpeazu have been at the forefront of the campaign for Ayu’s removal.
Despite their agitation, Ayu had insisted that he would go nowhere until when asked by the party NEC to resign.
Up until now, it’s not clear yet what the aggrieved party members will do, even as the party on Thursday night unveiled its campaign council, announcing Aminu Tambuwal as its campaign director general.
Ayu must resign now, Oyo PDP tells Atiku
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the campaign against the continued stay of the former Senate president, Iyorchia Ayu as the national chairman of the PDP intensified on Friday, September 16, in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo state.
It was reported that the party's state chapter insisted that Ayu's resignation as the chairman of the party would pave way for a true reconciliation among the aggrieved members of the party.
The Oyo PDP, however, lauded the inclusion of Governor Seyi Makinde in the Presidential Campaign Council of the party.
Source: Legit.ng
