It is 55 days to the 2023 general election and as Nigerians get set for the next round of elections, the presidential race is getting more intense and interesting as the opposition party PDP is yet to put her house together.
With the G-5 about to unveil their preferred candidate, what does this mean for the PDP and its supporters?
The G-5 governors still being members of the PDP, will be taking a whole lot of risk in announcing a different presidential candidate other than Atiku Abubakar, PDP Chieftain Kenneth Okolugbo says.
Speaking on TVC’s Political Programme StandPoint, Mr Okolugbo stated that
they have a leeway to take decisions, becuase they are the leaders of the party in their respective state.
“As leaders of party in their state, it is expected of them to lead by example, they are supposed to lead by and stick with decisions that were taken at the presidential primaries.
“Again, they have been on this for a long time, and what they are asking for is that Iyiorcha Ayu should stick to the agreement that if a national presidential candidates didn’t emerge from the north, he was going to step down, and that hasn’t been done, and they have insisted on that.
” So it’s for the PDP to actually put their house together.
Mr Okolugbo stated that one of the reasons that a lot of people have left the PDP is because it’s an opposition party, but there’s this head, strong, seemingly way of taking decisions, you must bend backwards over if you want to get results.
He added that if another presidential candidate is announced, that would mean the end of the fact that PDP will win the elections.
“There’s no way the G-5 governors will not have influence on about nine other gubernatorial candidates who seem to be also getting their funding from them, but this also has its implications”.
Speaking on Ayu’s resignation, he said this depends on the national chairman.
He said the constitution is very clear on how to remove the national chairman of the PDP, and if Iyiorcha Ayu has the interest of the PDP T heart, he should step aside at this material point in time.
“It is a bit untidy, but the PDP needs to set its house in order.
Speaking further on the issue, Special Assistant, Public communication to Atiku Abubakar, Phrank Shuaibu stated that as a party and as a presidential campaign, they have kept their cool and maintained decorum, particularly in handling some of the issues that Governor of Rivers state, Wike and his gang of four other guys governors have been talking about.
Mr Shaibu says some of the governors who left the party did so under the leadership of Iyiorcha Ayu because something precipitated their move.
“You cannot approve and probate at the same time. Governor Wike knows what we are talking about. He chased the crossover governor out of the PDP. He tried to meddle, even with the leadership of the PDP in Kano State.
“That we are not talking does not mean that anybody is stupid because Sometimes silence is golden and this is in our interest that some of these issues were resolved, that is why we have maintained decorum, particularly dignified silence in the dealing of these issues, but that does not mean that we don’t know the fact.
“The issue of resignation of Iyiorcha Ayu is a non starter because we’re a party of rules. We are not a pressure group. We’re a political party. And the constitution of the party is clear and unambiguous.
“Wike is not PDP, he is one member of the party. He’s a leader of the party in his own right, one of the governors of our states.
“Governor Wike is well aware that he is only a member of the party, one member of the party, and the party’s leader. Nowhere in the party, and there is no provision in the party, does it state that the chairman must resign if a specific candidate arises from this zone. Nothing like that exists. There is no provision” Mr Shaibu said.
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