PDP crisis: I won’t quit PDP, I will stay, fight and win —Wike

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is going through some rough times right now, but Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike insists he won’t leave the party.

He said this during a meeting with PDP supporters on Thursday in Rivers State.

Wike’s remarks are the most recent in a crisis that has gripped the party over calls for PDP’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to step down.

The Rivers governor and his allies have been at the forefront of calls for Ayu to resign, arguing that the party’s presidential candidate and national chairman cannot come from the same region.

Aminu Tambuwal, the governor of Sokoto, was named Director-general (DG) of the presidential campaign council when the PDP revealed a list of its members amid the controversy.

Although Wike and a few of his associates are named as council members, Wike’s supporters have declared they won’t take part in the presidential race until Ayu steps down.

In response, PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar stated that he cannot compel the national chairman to leave.

Speaking on Thursday, Wike insisted that he wouldn’t leave the party despite the current circumstances.

The Rivers governor said that it is inappropriate for the party’s presidential candidate, national chairman, and presidential campaign director to be from the same region, according to a statement by Kelvin Ebiri, his spokesman.

He said, “One thing I have always told people is if anybody is thinking, doing anything to think that we will leave PDP, foul. We will do the fight in the party. We are not like them, when in 2014 they walked out from Eagle Square. They’ve forgotten. They walked out and joined APC. Is it not correct?” 

“Did they remain to fight inside the party? But we remained; they ran away. Now, there is a fight in the party, we will not run. We will fight it in this party. Those who run away from fights are weak people. We will not. So, everybody should know this is the state where we are, so that nobody tells you all kind of stories.

“You have taken presidential candidate; you have taken party chairman; you have also taken the DG (director-general) of the campaign. We are talking about party politics. Decisions are made by the presidential candidate , chairman of the party, and the DG of the campaign.

“They are telling you they told the chairman of the BoT to resign. So, you know there is a problem. You said he should go and resign. You can put pressure on him to resign when his tenure hasn’t come to an end, but you cannot put pressure on the chairman to resign. You think at our level you will deceive us; you’ll tell us stories.”