Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state, has , once again, hit out at PDP National Chairman, former Senator Iyorcha Ayu accusing him of being ungrateful to Governor Samuel Ortom.
Ayu and Ortom are both indigenes of Benue state.
He condemned Ayu for saying he could have stopped Ortom and others from getting party nominations adding that without Ortom, Ayu wouldn’t have become the PDP National Chairman.
‘I heard when he said he could have stopped Ortom from contesting election. You see how ungrateful human beings can be. This was the same Governor Ortom who pleaded with us to say I can take the risk of letting Ayu become national chairman, without being greedy.
The agreement by PDP governors was that no national chairman should come from where a governor comes from. We agreed on that, but Ortom came. And as a man we respect, he said I want to promote my people in national politics. We said okay, on your honour we let him (Ayu) be.
This is a man who never campaigned anywhere, never printed campaign poster to be national chairman. Even money they gave him to print campaign posters, he never printed any. And he (Ayu) is the one saying if he had wanted to stop who brought him, a man who stood as a guarantor for him, he could have done so. That is the corruption we are talking about.
He has now come into the office, he has seen money and power, now he can open his mouth to say he could have stopped Ortom. And he said he can also stop any contestant now. We dare him. I dare Ayu to stop any contestant if he has what it takes.
Why is he (Ayu) not resigning? He is hoping Nigerians would donate money to the party so he would again superintend over that money. He has already finished over N11Billion party primaries money. Account for it, he says the public should go into the account. We say show us the money. Print out the bank account of PDP, and let the world see how you expended the money.
This is the party all of us have laboured to take over power from ruling All Progressives Congress that has done badly. Then the national chairman would open his mouth to talk about stopping contestants.
Ayu shouldn’t dare. He knows he can’t do it, he knows he has no such power. He is just playing to the gallery. He tried it in Rivers state, came to manipulate and tried to put some guber aspirants, but we saw the results. We dealt with him’ he said.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned Wike also clarified that members of his group were not asking Ayu to resign from office but rather urging him to keep his word.
‘It’s most unfortunate. Nobody has said Ayu should be sacked. Sacking and keeping to your word are two different things. By our party’s constitution, there must be zoning for elective parties and political offices.
Knowing full well that there is no way the presidential candidate and national chairman can come from the same zone, Ayu then said ‘if the candidate comes from the North, I will resign to allow the South produce the national chairman’.
What we are saying is that as a man of honour, or if he has any honour in him, he should keep to that honour, keep to your integrity, what you said, what he promised to do. So the issue of people sacking him does not arise.
All we are saying is that he should keep to the agreement that yes, in order for our party to show inclusivity, to show we are not marginalizing any zone, keep to the agreement that the presidential candidate comes from the North as it is now, and the national chairman goes to the South.
For you to be sacked there are procedures to follow. Nobody has said you are sacked. We are saying if at this point you’re a national chairman who has told Nigerians that this is what you do if that happens and you’re running away from doing that, how do you think Nigerians will now believe you, if you tell them to vote for your party?
If you say you will not honour or keep to integrity, we have no problem with that thing that is giving you confidence. What we are saying is that we want our party to win, but if you think you can do without keeping your word and fulfilling promises you have made, so be it. Saying nobody can sack him tells you the impunity in him’ he added.
The Rivers state governor also said he was not sure the PDP was ready to win the presidential election going by the developments that had gotten recorded in the party.
‘With this culture of impunity and arrogance now creeping into the party, the country is seeing us as not being serious. Do we really want to win the election with this kind of arrogance and impunity? From what we have surveyed, Nigerians want a change, but that is only if the people they expect to bring that change are prepared for it.
It is not about hiring the media to insult governors. Abuse us the way you want, the truth must be told at all times. It is when the election results are coming out that you will know those who are really on the ground.
For me, the party is in a dilemma now because the issue of integrity and credibility is still at play. And we must have to resolve that issue. I can never succumb to anybody to say I’m a slave. We must keep to what our party constitution says. If you won’t respect the constitution, so be it’ he submitted- Team@orientactualmags.com
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