The Coalition of Northern Nigeria Peoples Democratic Party Youth Movement on Friday protested at the PDP Secretariat in Kaduna.
The Coalition demanded the immediate resignation of the National Chairman of the party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the PDP is currently hit by crisis after Alhaji Atiku Abubakar emerged the party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 elections.
Some PDP governors and leaders, particularly from Southern Nigeria, have been insistent that for fairness, northern Nigeria should not hold both the party’s presidential ticket and national chairmanship position.
Leading in the struggle for resignation of Ayu, who is from the North Central, is Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and other leaders of the party from southern Nigeria.
Spokesperson/Leader of the Coalition, Shehu Isa-Dan’Inna, said they had been in PDP since 1999 without defection and had no plans to decamp even in the future.
He said for the PDP to win the presidential seat in the coming 2023 elections, Ayu must resign from his position as he had promised to.
Isa-Dan’Inna said for the PDP to project transparency as it had always done, the North could not hold about three key positions in the party.
“PDP is not a Northern Peoples Democratic Party nor Southern Peoples Democratic Party, we have to be just and united to enable us to win at various levels in the coming 2023 general elections,” he said.
He noted that Ayu must go to fulfill the promise he made that he would resign immediately after the party’s primaries if a Northerner emerges the party’s flag bearer.
Isa-Dan’Inna said they were reminding Ayu to fulfill his promise because they were tired of being in the opposition.
He said the country needed back the PDP at the helms of its affairs for overall wellbeing of Nigerians.
He said: “If the PDP’s internal crises persist, I don’t think we will win the presidential election.
“About six governors are fighting one governor; in the South we have about four presidential aspirants cut across different parties, which will reduce our votes, and the ruling party again, which is strong.
“The other man is also so strong.
“We don’t want to divide our votes.
“That is why we are calling on Senator Iyorchia Ayu to resign.
“It will be better, wiser for us to lose Ayu as the PDP Chairman and clinch the president’s seat, than to leave him and loose the presidency.”
Isa-Dan’Inna called on the PDP Board of Trustees, National Working Committee and PDP Caucus to be just and fair in order to get the party to victory.
He said: “If Ayu should keep to his promise, victory will surely be ours and Nigerians will smile again.
“The party leaders must act to salvage Nigeria.
“We don’t want to continue suffering.”
The crisis got deeper on Wednesday, when loyalists to Wike’s caucus pulled out of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council after a meeting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the protesters carried placards with inscriptions reading: Ayu Must Go; Ayu must step down; and We need justice, and fairness for all.