A Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic, Katch Ononuju, says the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, wants the national chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, to resign so that he can have a peaceful party to win the February 2023 presidential poll.

“From my own insider information, the candidate wants Mr Ayu to resign but there are hogs 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 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 is beyond Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, but a collective demand by the southern caucus of the PDP who are against the idea of northerners occupying the three top positions of the party – Atiku (Adamawa State), Ayu (Benue State); as well as the Board of Trustees’ Chairman, Walid Jibrin (Nasarawa State).

However, the national chairman of the party has insisted that he won’t step down till after his four-year single term.

To this, Ononuju said, “If he (Ayu) goes, we have mechanisms, we’ve had chairmen who have left without completing their four-year term. The person (Uche Secondus) he replaced didn’t complete his four-year term. “He should understand the way he came is also the door he will go through. He should understand that our party is that way.

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