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“He has honour if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct.” —Walter Lippmann
By Cosmas Omegoh
Enormous attention is on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, a man believed to be at the centre of the party’s current storm.
No hour passes without Ayu being in the news.
Expectedly, some people are unhappy that PDP is adrift at sea, lashed on all sides by the restless waves because of Ayu. They lament that the party is currently ripped from “top to bottom,” regretting that the party’s chair is the architect of current impasse.
Since the PDP conducted its presidential primary won by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, it has not known peace.
Pundits earlier belief that the party’s ex-chairman, Uche Secondus, was the problem is now a farce after all, as after Secondus exited on October 24, 2021, the party has had no reprieve.
Senator Ayu had arrived at the party’s Wadata office in Abuja with fanfare. Expectations were indeed high that he would usher a magnificent turnaround to the fortune of the party in no time.
And shortly before he assumed office Ayu from Benue State in the North Central, had vowed to resign as chairman should a standard bearer of the party emerge from the North.
Hear him: “If the PDP says I should step down after a presidential candidate emerges and happens to be in the North, I will be very glad to do so because what we want is to take over the government and run it in the interest of Nigerians. I’ll sacrifice anything to ensure that my party wins.”
As things turned out, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar from the Northeast zone clinched the PDP presidential ticket, defeating Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State at the party’s primary election.
Recall that hours before the election held, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State also a candidate in the primary election, withdrew his candidature at the dying minute, and urged his followers to cast their votes for Atiku, which paved the way of the Waziri Adamawa in emerging victorious.
Afterwards, in what Wike interpreted as clear display of “partiality,” Ayu threw caution to the wind to give a “thank-you” embrace to Governor Tambuwal, declaring him “hero of the election,” for swinging his votes to Atiku. Wike had reasoned that he would have won the election fair and square had his friend, Tambuwal not intervened with his sleight of hand.
The Wike defeat has since been causing unrest in the PDP, forcing the party into a reverse gear.
Again, Atiku’s failure to pick Wike as his running mate as many expected has not helped matters. Even a committee set up by the party to select a running mate for Atiku placed Wike before the others, yet Atiku settled for Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.
Looking at the chain of the outcome of the election, aggrieved Wike went into the trenches. He now wants to extract his own pound of flesh.
At every turn, Wike is firing on all cylinders. He is not letting any opportunity slip by to prove that he mattered much in the PDP, bragging that he has three million Rivers votes left frozen in the bank. And he is emphatic about it.
As part of his own sleight of hand, Wike had tabled a wish list he wants considered for peace to return to the party. On that list is a power-sharing formula. And then, an emphatic demand that Ayu must go.
Reports claimed that Atiku had requested Wike to give him time to ponder over the requests.
But as subterranean maneuvers continue, Wike has continued to give the opposition the green light that he is for the taking, winking at them desireously each time.
Allegations were flying that some of Atiku’s loyalists, including Ayu, were adamant that Atiku should call Wike’s bluff.
But pundits say such advisory is as bad as it can be for Atiku.
Even Atiku himself, as an experienced politician knows he cannot wish away Wike just like that, thus he had been making moves to woo him back.
But Wike is maintaining that Ayu’s 2021 promise to resign as the party’s chairman should their candidate emerges from the North be respected. And Wike has kept pressing for his demand with verve and vigour, and at the same time winning acolytes at every turn. Thus, he does not miss any opportunity to put Ayu on the spot.
Even PDP’s former Deputy National Chairman (South), Chief Olabode George, also wants Ayu to quit, the same for some governors elected on the PDP platform.
But Ayu doesn’t want to hear any of the Wike gospels as they sound gaseous to his ears. So, he is not yielding ground, and does intend to do so.
Lately, Ayu said that he will only serve out his four-year term as that is the only clause in the party’s books. Any other thing is balderdash.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he declared, refusing to keep his voice low.
“I was elected for a tenure of four years. I am even yet to complete a year in the office. The election of Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate did not bother the seat of the party chairman. I won the election and it is based on the party’s constitution.
“I did not commit any offence, I am committed to my work, and I don’t bother about the noise going on.”
Then Ayu’s media office takes it from there: “We restate, therefore, that the PDP National Chairman has not resigned and has no plan of resigning. For clarity and emphasis, he was elected for a tenure of four years.”
Now, Ayu is winning converts. One of them is the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba. He was quoted as declaring the planned removal of Ayu as a distraction to the party, insisting that it would spark off constitutional crisis in the party.
“Those calling for Ayu’s removal ought to be aware of the implication of their demand. Are they now saying that the present Deputy National Chairman (North), who is from the same Northeast zone as our presidential candidate, be made to replace Ayu, in line with the PDP constitution?”
Right now, the PDP crisis has sharply divided the party ranks as electioneering begins this month.
As the dust raised in the party is yet to settle, last week, Ayu dropped a bombshell, which further placed a knife in sinew that still holds the party together.
In his combative outburst, Ayu had called out his traducers – a veiled reference to Wike – “children” and “boys,” who did not know what the party’s founding fathers went through to birth the party.
“I co-founded the PDP in Nigeria, and some boys who don’t know how we struggled and what we went through can’t cause problems for the party.
“When we started the PDP, we did not know those boys; they were children; they don’t know why we founded the party. We will not agree with one person to come and destroy our party,” Ayu fired.
On Thursday, Wike took Ayu to the cleaners, saying that if they are indeed children, Ayu is a prodigal father, wondering why monetary inducement has greatly changed the embattled PDP chairman.
Analysts believe that Ayu’s latest position further lends credence to the growing belief that he is unwilling to leave despite growing calls on him to do so.
Now, observers find it hard to know where Ayu’s strength and confidence is coming from. That apart, they are wondering where the wrangling in PDP leaves the presidential ambition of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar with the election less than six months away.
Born on November 15, 1952, in Gboko Benue State, Ayu is Nigeria’s 5th President of the Senate (1992 and 1993) in the 3rd Republic. He represented Benue Northwest Senatorial District on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP).
He was at various times, Minister of Education and Youth Development, Industries, Internal Affairs, and Environment.
He studied Sociology at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, and later went for his post-graduate at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.
A Marxist, he lectured Sociology at the University of Jos, and later spent time as a member of the Editorial Board of Daily Times.
He is married to two wives and has children.
