DESPITE the eagerness of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, to work with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State on the 2023 elections, he is constrained to assume a careful approach in order not to lose the loyalty of the North, investigations have revealed.
The Sunday Tribune gathered that the former vice-president is keen not to be perceived as pandering to the whim and caprice of the first runner-up in the presidential primary of the election so as not to be perceived as not protecting the region’s interest.
Governor Wike is pushing for the removal of the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, who he believes, skewed the selection process of the party’s standard-bearer in favour of the former vice-president.
His camp has insisted that the party boss, who is from the North, must step aside to pave the way for the selection of a Southerner as his replacement to ensure diversity in the party’s positions as prescribed by its constitution.
Before last Thursday, when Senator Walid Jibrin resigned as the chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), the three major positions in the party, including the presidential candidate, the national chairman and the BoT were in the hands of the North.
Wike has, however, rejected the BoT chairman’s resignation, describing it as inadequate to correct the imbalance in the party’s top positions. Despite the Rivers governor’s push, the highest decision-making body of the PDP, the National Executive Committee (NEC) went ahead to pass a vote of confidence in Ayu.
Findings showed that even though Atiku has nothing personal against Wike, he is unable to accede to his demands because he does not want to hurt his supporters in the North who helped him to clinch the PDP presidential ticket and risk losing their support.
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
A top party source told the Sunday Tribune: “The truth is that he wants Ayu to go so that he can have a peaceful party to campaign and win. But then, I think it has become a sin to those who helped him, According to him, they are trying to blackmail him into ‘they helped him to win.’”
A member of the Wike camp told the Sunday Tribune that the governor will not stop his agitation until the perceived wrongs in the main opposition party are corrected.
“All we ask for is inclusion. If anybody thinks, yes, the North has been successful in penetrating the South and getting one or two persons compromised, that’s not going to produce results. It’s supposed to be an arrangement where the North and the South, all of them get carried along,” the source said, adding:
“Atiku is supposed to be a unifier. Let him unify now; let him unify the party. You start by unifying the party. You cannot answer ‘Unifier’ and you can’t unify the party. It’s a problem.”
The spokesman of the former vice-president, Paul Ibe, declined to comment on the issue when he was contacted on Saturday.
However, a PDP chieftain sympathetic to the presidential candidate but who did not want to be named, denied that the present dis- agreement is about the North and South.
The senior party member said: “That is not what it is about. It’s neither North nor South nor East nor West. You know the candidacy of Aitku Abubakar is predicated on a Nigerian agenda. Atiku is pan-Nigerian. So, it is not a question of pandering to the interest of the South of North, East or West. This is more about process.”
While recalling the process of zoning the national chair- man’s post to the North led by Governor Wike, which culminated in the emergence of Ayu, the party source affirmed: “If you are going to remove Ayu, there must also be a process. So, it’s not about Atiku Abubakar. Yes, Atiku is a stakeholder but he is not the process.”
Why Ayu, Wike’s feud may not end soon
Though the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has, on every occasion, reiterated that he is not ready to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), current indications show the worst is yet to come. Credible sources within the camp of the embattled governor informed Sunday Tribune of a grand plot by some forces closed to the Wike group to jeorpadise the chances of PDP in the by general election by subordinating the interest of the opposition party.
Alleging gross injustice and insensitivity to the demands for the resignation of Ayu as National Chairman and his replacement by a southerner, a top notch in the PDP who is part of the plot said their action was borne out of the uncertainty over how an Atiku presidency would treat them and the South in the event of PDP victory in the 2023 elections, especially when their demands are not being met even in pre-election period.
Feelers in the rival camp over the power tussle in the PDP, however, indicated that the Atiku, Ayu, their asso- ciates and other allies have moved on believing the best option now is to effect the change of leadership that Wike and his allies are rooting for through the ballot, begin- ning with the presidential poll on February 25, 2023.
Their stand is that while further consultations and engagements could not be foreclosed, the face-off triggered by the fallouts of the presidential primary, including the choice of running mate by Atiku, had affected the party’s preparations for the cam- paign expected to commence from September 28 this year, any attempt to tinker with the structure of the party at this time will have dire consequences.
Meanwhile, the governor is said to be seriously weighing other options in the efforts to retain his hold on Rivers politics, one of which is the possibility of a “negotiated agreement” with the rival ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The plan, PDP sources said at the weekend, is to sesecure the necessary support of the APC leadership for his candidates for the general election in return for a similar gesture to the APC at the presidential poll.
The planned deal is reportedly drawing flak from within the PDP, especially in Rivers with some of follow- ers said to have threatened “severe repercussions at the most convenient time.”
Sacking Ayu would’ve plunged PDP into more crisis —Aniagwu
The spokesperson of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr Charles Aniagwu has given reasons why the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was exploring other options in resolving the crisis rocking the party.
Aniagwu said as a listening party, they were taking a second look at the issues based on what was permissible by the laws of the party.
Speaking on Arise TV on Saturday, Aniagwu said that sacking National Chairman of the party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu would create constitutional crisis for the party which would snowball into greater problems than what the party was currently faced with.
According to him, the main issue being canvassed by the stakeholders is the stepping down of the National Chairman which has now been overtaken by events following the vote of confidence by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.
“People may misinterpret it to mean calling the bluff of certain stakeholders but that is far from it because the party leadership examined the issues vis-a-vis the provisions of the party’s constitution as amended in 2017.
“When you look at that constitution, there are principal officers called the National Working Committee of the party led by the National Chairman and in the other of hierarchy, the Deputy National Chairman who must also come from same zone with the National Chairman is next in line.
“The third in line is the National Secretary and when you look at these positions, the National Chairman is from the North, the second in command is also from the North by virtue of the provision of the party’s constitution.
“In section 45 of the party’s constitution, in the event of removal or resignation of the National Chairman, the National Deputy Chairman takes over and acts in the position of that National Chairman pending when the party is able to organise another election or do a NEC meeting to be able to take a decision as to how to rearrange the hierarchy of the party,” he stated.
He said because the positions were elective positions, even if Ayu were to step down for power to come to the South, the provisions of the constitution of the party would also be offended.
“That can only happen if you can also take a decision to remove the Deputy National Chairman of the party who the lot immediately falls on by provisions of the law.
“Even if the party is able to solve that puzzle by bringing both National Chairman and Deputy to South, the third person in the hierarchy of the National Working Committee of the party is the National Secretary and that is in the South specifically Senator Samuel Anyanwu from Imo State.
“Now if you decide to bring these two positions to the South, have you also made arrangements to take the National Secretary to the North?
“Because of these legal impediments the party examined it that given the time that we have which is just about six months to the general elections, that it may likely snowball into some form of crisis that could trigger a whole lot of discomfort within the party if we proceed to begin to make these changes that there is the tendencies that the party may be embroiled in a crisis that would be worse than the one we are seeing at the moment.
“That greater crisis is what the ruling APC is waiting to happen but the leadership of the party is intelligent enough and am happy that Governor Nyesom Wike and other leaders appreciate the need for the party to move as a whole into the 2023 general elections.”
The campaign spokesman further said it was on the basis of this that the party decided to look at what was possible at the moment and that gave room for the resignation of Senator Walid Jibrin and subsequent emergence of Senator Adolphus Wagbara as Chairman Board of Trustees.
“The emergence of Wagbara in the south to join the Vice presidential candidate and National Secretary had created some form of balance in the interim.
“But what is most important is that there is a bigger elephant here which is winning the 2023 general elections because Nigerians are looking up to the PDP to rescue the nation from where we are at the moment.
“I am convinced that our leaders who have been craving for these changes would appreciate the fact that the party is listening but because of time probably when the party may have won the elections in 2023 by the grace of God, we can now proceed to make some of these alterations that may not be injurious to our quest to win the general elections,” Aniagwu said.
On the performance of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa in Delta and the value he brings to the ticket as Vice-Presidential candidate, Aniagwu, who is Information Commissioner in Delta, said that Okowa had performed tremendously with his 5-point agenda, adding that job creation through skill acquisition has been profound.
He noted Okowa had improved the standard of living of the people by reducing poverty in state which attracted National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) ranking as the second least poor state in the counry in 2018. On infrastructural development, he said Okowa has constructed well over 1,833km of roads with over 900km of drains across the three Senatorial Districts.
“But what is most important to us is what we have done in the creeks of Delta, area that where hitherto referred to as very difficult terrains to develop, we have made a whole lot of impact in that region which is why we are enjoying a whole lot of peace in the Niger Delta.
“For a very long time now we have been able to ensure that our brothers and sisters in the creeks are carried along and this is one the things that our principal the Presidential candidate saw and said I need a partner who is progressive in nature.
“A partner that can address the issues of the youths and a partner that can help address the issues of unity of our country because Delta is a microcosm of Nigeria where you have diverse ethnic groups.
“When we live in unity as a country, you will discover that we will return to winning ways, all these other symptomatic malaise in our country will be solved, because issue of corruption, bad economy, insecurity, they happen because our diversity was badly mismanaged by the APC,” Aniagwu stated.
Wike mocks Secondus, campaigns for River PDP candidates, silent on Atiku
Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has mocked former National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, who was reported to have danced when NEC of the party passed vote of confidence in Senator Ayu, the embattled PDP national chairman.
Wike said decision by the PDP NEC would not dissuade him and others from insisting that the prevailing structural imbalance within party must be addressed. He spoke at the reception organised for defectors from various political parties to the PDP in Rivers State, held at the Isaac Boro Park in Port Harcourt on Saturday.
“I was listening and watching. They said there is one man they call Secondus. They said he was dancing, celebrating that NEC gave their person vote of confidence. He forgets history. Ask him the same NEC through Aliyu Babangida moved a motion of vote of confidence supported by the same person, Ndudi Elumelu. They gave you (Secondus) a vote of confidence, what happened? You left office.
“We don’t fight and go back. If you like you can have as many as 20 votes of confidence, it’s not my business. My business is to make sure the right thing is done, and the right thing must be done. Whether today or tomorrow”, Wike vowed.
He pointed out that despite the heightening political negotiations that are going on, his administration has not abandoned governance in the state, stressing that it was his love for the state that has made him to remain devoted to providing good governance until the last day of his tenure.
He declared; “I’m not going to play politics with the interest of my people. Rivers State is paramount to me first before any other person or group.
“So eyes can see what we have done. Up till today, we have never abandoned governance. So many people are already rounding off, taking the last they have but yet, we are still committed in commissioning, and flagging off projects.
“Because of the love we have for our people, we will continue to serve you till May 29, when by the grace of God, Siminialaye Fubara will be inaugurated the governor of Rivers State.”
Wike commended the defectors for their courage to rejoin their political family, boasting that there is no other political party that can win election in Rivers State except the PDP.
“PDP, he said, is a household name in Rivers State. Let me assure you that we will all work with you. Nothing like somebody who has been there since and somebody who has just come back. The more the merrier.
“So, all of us must put hands together to make sure our governorship candidate, the National Assembly candidates, the House of Assembly candidates, at least from Rivers State, we return them 100 per cent. That’s our primary duty”, the governor urged.
He dismissed efforts by other political candidates as mere attempt to appear on the ballot declaring that there was no hope of winning for them.
According to Wike PDP’s confidence of victory is hinged on the fact that the party and his administration have served to protect the interest of the state courageously.
He told the various candidates; “If God gives you the ticket of PDP in this state, go home and sew your cloth for the inauguration day.”
and then