A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olabode George, has told the National Chairman of the party, Senator Iyorcha Ayu, that he must quit his seat before the end of the month.
Chief George said that the position of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, that Ayu must quit has his backing.
The former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP spoke on Thursday at the inauguration of Omerelu internal roads in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, commissioned by Wike.
He said since the return of Nigeria to democracy in 1999 and the formation of the PDP, the rotation of key positions in the party had been entrenched.
He said for Ayu to insist on staying on as national chairman when the party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 polls, Atiku Abubakar, and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Walid Jibrin, are both from the North amounted to injustice.
He said: “Party members from the South are already feeling alienated.
“The PDP is not a private company.
“So, before we start the presidential campaign at the end of this month, the national chairman must go to the South.
“That is what Governor Wike is saying and as a life member of the Board of Trustees of our party, I support this position 100 per cent.
“Statutorily, it is the national chairman who hands over the party’s flag to our presidential candidate.
“How will party members from the South feel when they see that at all political rallies, Southerners have no public political representation?”
The former Military Administrator of Ondo State said the only way the party can wrestle the presidency from the All Progressives Congress was by going into the 2023 elections with a united front.
He said: “But we can only go back to Aso Rock if we are united and not divided.
“Some people are abusing Governor Wike: he is a trouble maker.
“Those abusing him, as an elder and as a father in this party, I am directing them: they must stop immediately because Governor Wike is only fighting injustice, for equity, for fairness in our party.
“He is not only a strong pillar in this party, but also a mobiliser, a financier and an actualiser.
“Since he joined the PDP, he has not left this party.
“I’m also a founding father of the party and since 1998, I have not left this party.”