Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has dared the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Iyorchia Ayu to stop any candidate of the party from contesting an election if he thinks he has the powers to do so.
Governor Wike stated this during a media briefing at his residence in Port Harcourt on Sunday while reacting to a recent comment by Senator Ayu that he has the power to stop any candidate, particularly from Benue State, following the attacks on his person.
Ayu was quoted as saying this in his Tiv dialect while addressing the crowd that welcomed him home in Gboko on Friday. He was also quoted as saying that no one can sack him from office.
But Wike believes the comment is further damage to the image of the PDP which should be gaining the trust and confidence of the public to rescue Nigeria.
“He has now come into the office, seen money, seen 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,” he said.
“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 N11 billion party primaries money. Account for it, he says the public should go into the account. We say show us the money. Print the 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, 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.”
Wike reiterated that the calls for Ayu to quit the post are based on the need for inclusiveness and also for the national chairman to fulfill his promise.
“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?” the governor asked.
“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 to promises you have made, so be it. Saying nobody can sack him tells you the impunity in him.”
He accused Ayu of being ungrateful to Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State.
“I heard when he said he could have stopped Ortom from running for 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,” he said.
“This is a man who never campaigned anywhere, never printed a poster to be national chairman. Even money they gave him to print posters, he never printed any. And he (Ayu) is the one saying if he wanted to stop who brought him, a man who stood as a guarantor for him, he could have done so.”
