Katch Ononuju, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, wants the national chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, to resign in order for the party to be united ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
Ononuju made this known on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily, where he was speaking about the crisis rocking the party as well as the issues between Atiku and the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.
“From my own insider information, the candidate wants Mr Ayu to resign but there are hawks in the party who are telling them, ‘Ayu, don’t resign’. I don’t know why. The candidate wants Mr Ayu to leave so that he could have a peaceful party to go to the election,” Ononuju said Thursday on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.
“If Atiku keeps saying he is a unifier, let him now unify the party by taking decisions and also acting to aid the southerners in this issue of inclusion,” he added.
He stated that Atiku did not just need to wish, but work towards unifying the party.
“He doesn’t just need to wish, he should work and act in aiding the stability in the party by working with others to ensure that Mr Ayu leaves so that the party can be stable,” he said.
He said Ayu is the reason for the current internal implosion of the party. “If he (Ayu) stays, he divides the party; if he stays, the party could lose. If he stays, the party implodes with the staying put.”
Ononuju said the agitation for a southerner to replace Ayu was also beyond Wike, saying it was a collective demand by the southern caucus of the PDP who did not want northerners in the three top positions of the party as it is presently.
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