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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
When former Senate President, Iyorchia Ayu, assumed office as the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), last December, he said his twin objectives were to unify the party, as well as lead it to victory in the 2023 general elections. However, Ayu clocked one year in office, last week, with the opposition party still sharply divided, less than 80 days to the commencement of next year’s polls.
The PDP chairman in his inaugural speech had said his leadership would return the party to the people, as well as reposition it to be able to win the 2023 polls. According to him, “our task at this auspicious moment is to return the party to the people. But to do that, the party needs to be reinvigorated, reinvented and repositioned.
“I stand here to assure you that PDP is back to Rescue and Rebuild Nigeria.
“To the APC, we, once again, renew our quit notice on you. Begin to prepare your handover notes.”
A few days, earlier, the former Senate President had told journalists, in Abuja that :”necessary reconciliatory processes will be undertaken to reconcile party members and to resolve issues in chapters in various states… We will re-energize the party and take over power again, not only at the centre… We will unite the party as I have said and I believe that very soon, we will have a very united, a very focused political party.”
Prior to Ayu’s emergence as PDP chairman, the opposition party was embroiled in crises in some state chapters, as well as at the national level, leading to the ouster of the immediate past chairman, Uche Secondus. Several of the state chapters were also enmeshed in crises.
Regardless, findings reveal the crises in the PDP have exacerbated in the last one year. Daily Sun gathered that the crises in the state chapters and at the national level spiked in the aftermath of the nomination of candidates for the 2023 general elections. This, it was gathered, has led to leaders in the affected states, working at cross purposes in the run-up to next year’s polls.
Presently, apart from the festering crises in no fewer than 12 state chapters, the former President of the Senate, has been in the eye of the storm in the last six months, as the PDP battles to keep its members united, ahead of the 2023 polls. The state chapters where PDP leaders are on a warpath include Ebonyi, Edo, Cross River, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Ekiti, Ogun, Lagos, Oyo, Kano and Imo states.
The PDP chairman ran into troubled waters, in June, after the nomination of Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa as PDP vice presidential candidate. Prior to the nomination of Okowa as running mate to the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, the party had set up a high powered committee to shop for a suitable vice presidential candidate.
The committee, which included representatives of the various organs of the PDP, had shortlisted the Delta governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, Governors Nyesom Wike and Emmanuel Udom of Rivers and Akwa Ibom states respectively for the coveted position.
Ayu, while speaking at Okowa’s unveiling had dispelled media reports that majority of members of the panel had voted in favour of Wike as their preferred choice for the vice presidential ticket. However, the national chairman’s comment did not go down well with supporters of the Rivers governor, who insisted that the Rivers governor had scored more votes in polling done by the panel members.
Recall that Wike’s loyalists had earlier accused Ayu of not creating a level playing field for all the presidential aspirants, after a video of the national chairman hailing Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, as the “hero” of the PDP national convention. Tambuwal had withdrawn from the presidential primary, paving way for the emergence of Atiku as the PDP presidential candidate.
Consequently, the PDP chairman’s stance that there was no voting in the meetings to choose a running mate for Atiku, deepened the gulf that already existed between him and supporters of the Rivers State governor.
This has led to the polarization of the various organs of the opposition party, including the National Working Committee ( NWC) with Wike, Samuel Ortom, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Okezie Ikpeazu, and Seyi Makinde of Rivers, Benue, Enugu, Abia and Oyo states respectively, and other aggrieved party leaders demanding the ouster of the national chairman. Since the crisis broke out in June, neither Ayu nor the party has known peace.
The Wike group, which has remained resolute in its demand for Ayu’s replacement with a Southerner ahead of the 2023 presidential poll, recently withdrew from the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, pending the sack of the national chairman.
Pundits say the inability of the national chairman to build and unite PDP leaders, ahead of the 2023 polls, may jeopardize his dream of leading the opposition party to victory in the next general elections.
Spokesman of the Coalition of United Political Parties ( CUPP), Ugochinyere Ikenga, believes that Ayu’s continued stay in office is inimical to the success of the PDP in the 2023 general elections
Ikenga, in a recent statement, charged Atiku to impress it on Ayu to quit as national chairman ahead of the 2023 polls, as a way of guaranteeing the victory of the opposition party, especially in the Southern states.
According to him, “I call on the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to press it on chieftains of the party and Ayu on the need to save the party from further polarisation and loss of our base in the South.
“It is clear to all and sundry that Ayu is a political ticking time bomb that must be disarmed to bring justice and unity back to the party.
“His continued chairmanship will spell more doom for the party and lead to the worst electoral defeat for the party. Therefore, all lovers of democracy and party supporters must take it as a national assignment to ensure that Ayu quits now.”
However, media aide to the PDP chairman, Simon Imobo-Tswam, says Ayu’s tenure, in the last one year, has not been about crises. Imobo-Tswam told journalists, recently, that despite the crises in the party, Ayu has also recorded some achievements.
He pointed to the PDP victory in the last Osun State governorship poll, and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council elections, as part of the achievements of the party under the leadership of the third republic Senate President in the last 12 months.
According to him, “The crisis or what I will call the ripples in the party are part of the burden of leadership. And he is managing it well. He was elected to take PDP back to power. PDP was in crisis when he came, the whole country begininng from his zone looked at his person; his credentials and decided that a man like him should come at this time and unite the party, galvanise it for victory.I will say so far so good.
“However, the party in the last one year won the gubernatorial poll in Osun State. Some state are in crises and he has resolved that to a greatest extent.
We don’t want people to define Ayu ‘s tenure in terms of crises. There is so much that is happening in PDP, that the man is doing.
“Four years ago in Osun State, PDP won election. We lost it. Under Ayu, PDP reenacted that miracle and it is standing. In FCT here, PDP cleared the election. It is leadership that he is providing. I don’t believe that his continued stay in office is the trigger for crises. If there is crisis, the trigger is elsewhere.”
