RIVERS State governor Nyesom Wike has claimed that national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Iyorchia Ayu, lacks the capacity to influence votes.
He made the claim on Friday in Port Harcourt during a live media chat which was aired by major TV stations and monitored by The ICIR.
Wike, who has been calling for Ayu’s removal, said he was not afraid of the PDP national chairman.
“What will Ayu do to me? What will he do? Can Ayu come and tell Rivers people not to vote? He does not have the capacity to do that. So why am I going to be afraid of him?” Wike queried.
Speaking on why he has remained persistent on the call for Ayu’s resignation, Wike said, “We’ve not done primaries, a man (Ayu) came out and say if the presidential candidate comes out from the North I will leave. Honour it. It’s part of leadership.”
Wike claimed Ayu was taking Nigerians for granted while he and his camp were working towards making the party better.
“What they should do I have always said, let’s move our party. Forget about this jamboree. The election is in the state. It is in the local governments. It’s in the wards. It’s in the units,” he said.
“There is no way I can sit in anywhere and you say Ayu is the chairman of the party. There is no way,” he added.
According to Wike, the demand was about the right of the South as he implied that the interest of his people was all that matters to him.
“You are denying my people their own right. It will be foolish of me from the South to adjudicate that position of chairmanship. Nobody should talk to me about the interest of party. You have to talk to me about the interest of my people,” he said.
Reacting to the money paid into the accounts of some members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) by the national chairman, Wike said the development was not without ulterior motives.
“When it was discussed, Ayu said everyone should calm down that Nigerians are interested. They will bring money to the party,” he revealed.
“I just feel that we are not pushed to the wall. If we are pushed to the wall, what the people will hear will be something else,” Wike added.
