THE Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, that the party’s national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, must quit his position for peace to reign in the party.
Makinde, who stated this when he hosted Atiku and some South-West PDP stakeholders in Ibadan today, said that the party must be united first before it could offer unity to a sharply divided country like Nigeria.
He insisted that Ayu must go so that the southern part of the country could be well represented in the party’s affairs.
The governor said, “Our party wants to rescue Nigeria, and our candidate is a unifier. He wants to restructure Nigeria.
“Eight years of the All Progressives Congress have left us sharply divided. The issue is we must practise what we preach. If we want to unify Nigeria, we must unify the PDP first.
“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 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.”
Makinde is one of the governors in the camp of the Rivers State governor, Nyesome Wike, calling on the party to balance its executive positions between the northern and southern parts of the country as stipulated in the PDP constitution.
The Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom; Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; and Governor Ikpeazu are also members of the Wike camp.
The Wike camp has vowed it would not shift its position until Ayu resigned as the party’s national chairman.
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