PDP crisis takes new dimension as Makinde re-echoes Wike’s demands

The feud between factions loyal to the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, seems to have taken another dimension as the governor of Oyo state, Seyi Makinde insisted on the resignation of Iyorchia Ayu, National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for any peace talk to hold.

Makinde made the demand at the PDP south-west stakeholders meeting in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo state.

“Our party wants to rescue Nigeria and our candidate is a unifier. He wants to restructure Nigeria,” he said.

“Eight years of the All Progressives Congress have left us sharply divided. The issue is we must practice what we preach. If we want to unify Nigeria, we must unify the PDP first.

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“If we want to restructure Nigeria, we must have the willingness to bring inclusivity to the PDP. Do we have the capacity? The answer is a resounding yes. The message from the south-west PDP is that the south-west is asking that the national working committee (NWC) of the PDP should be restructured.

“We are asking the national chairman to step down so that the south will be fully included. That is the message.”

Atiku Abubakar will not trade Ayu, a man who contributed largely to his success at the PDP presidential primary election to appease Wike. Wike on the other hand wants Ayu, the same man who crushed his presidential ambition out; he wants his pound of flesh at all cost.

The bone of contention is the insistence of some stakeholders, including governors on the platform of the party, led by Wike, that its national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, vacates his position to give a sense of inclusiveness and even distribution of key positions in the party.

The argument is that the national chairman and other key positions of the party cannot remain in the north where the presidential candidate of the party emerged from.

While the PDP seems not to have fully recovered from its 2015-2019 electoral bruises, it has also not learnt from experience as it continues to expose itself to attack from within and outside its ranks.

The party has even become a subject of ridicule to the ruling party, who recently offered to provide a solution to its unending internal squabbles.