Former Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George, has backed Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State in the campaign to remove Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu. Chief George claimed Wike was fighting for justice.
He claimed that Wike was a pillar, mobilizer, financier, and actualizer who fought against injustice, for equity, and fairness.
Following Ayu’s decision not to stand down, Wike had taken a shot at him, accusing Ayu of ingratitude after he (Wike) and friends helped reinstall him as chairman.
However, Governor Wike emphasized that there is no way to prevent the ouster of Ayu.
When he and other Nigerians founded the party, Senator Ayu wondered where the people pushing for his ouster from office were.
In a covert reference to Governor Wike, the PDP chairman said that party leaders had worked so hard to the point where they would not allow one person to demolish what they had fought so hard to achieve. The interview was broadcast on the Hausa Service of the BBC in Abuja.
Wike chastised Ayu for his remarks while speaking at the opening of internal roads built by the Rivers State Government in Omerelu, Ikwerre Local Government Area.
Wike stands his ground
His words: “You were sleeping in your house, calling me per second, saying my brother, my brother. Today, all those who brought you as chairman are all boys. Nigerians have seen how ungrateful some of you can be.
“That is why Nigerians are also careful, thinking if you give these people power, how grateful will they be to Nigerians? I’ve kept quiet thinking we will reconcile. Now that you have become arrogant to say you were elected, where did you campaign?
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“Where were your campaign posters? Even when we gave you money to print posters, you pocketed it.
“Hire all the media moguls, hire all social media top people, and write all you can write, it will not save you. Carry all the television houses working for you; it will not bother me at all. I do what my conscience tells me to do and what is right for our people.
“Ayu said we are children. Yes, the children brought you to be chairman of the party. The children brought you from the gutter and made you chairman. Ayu, you were impeached as Senate president. Ayu, you were sacked by Olusegun Obasanjo in his administration two times.
“Arrogance cannot take you anywhere. Now, we have seen that you don’t want the party to win elections, we’ll help you. When you should instead come out to say ‘I’m sorry, for the sake of us’, he is telling us we are children.
“A man, who is inconsistent and ran away from the party, telling those of us who spent our time and had sleepless nights to make sure this party does not go down. Now, he has the audacity to say we are children.
“We will tell him you’re a prodigal father. A man that was impeached, sacked, and ran away from the party is now coming to say, I’m a founding member of the party. Then you ran away.”
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Ayu must go – Chief George says
George, a distinguished visitor at the opening of internal roads built by the Rivers State Government, supported Wike’s position on the “Ayu must go” slogan and criticized Ayu, accusing him of being unappreciative.
However, the PDP chairman pointed out that nothing can stop Ayu from being dismissed.
He said: “The issue of the PDP chairman must be addressed before commencement of campaigns for the 2023 elections.
“It is an antithesis and against the norms and culture of our party that our presidential candidate, our national chairman and the chairman of the Board of Trustees will come from one section of the country.
“Party members from the South are already feeling alienated; the PDP is not a private company. So, before we start the presidential campaign at the end of this month, the National Chairman must go to the South.
“That is what Governor Wike is saying and as a life member of the Board of Trustees of our party, I support this position 100 per cent.
“Statutorily, it is the National Chairman, who hands over the party’s flag to our presidential candidate. How will party members from the South feel when they see that, at all political rallies, Southerners have no public political representation?
“But we can only go back to Aso Rock if we are united and not divided. Some people are abusing Governor Wike that he is a troubleshooter (sic). Those abusing him, as an elder and as a father in this party, must stop immediately.
Wike blasted Ayu for his remarks while speaking at the opening of internal roads built by the Rivers State Government in Omerelu, Ikwerre Local Government Area.
