The governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has asked the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, to resign.
According to Makinde, Ayu’s resignation will make the people of Southern Nigeria feel a sense of belonging to the party.
Makinde made the call during a meeting of South-West PDP stakeholders with the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The call for the resignation of Ayu as National Chairman of the party has heightened since Atiku won the party’s presidential primary to emerge as its candidate for the 2023 presidential election,” The PUNCH reports.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, who lost to Atiku in the party’s presidential primaries, has similarly called for the resignation of Ayu, saying there was an agreement that if a northerner emerged as the presidential candidate, Ayu, who is also a northerner would resign to give room for a southerner to take the position.
Makinde described Atiku as “the incoming President of Nigeria in 2023,” drawing applause from PDP members at the meeting.
He, however, noted that for the opposition to regain power in Nigeria and restructure the country, it must first look within and restructure itself.
“The truth is that we do not have any issue either with our party or our candidate. If there are challenges, they must be tabled.
“We are supposed to give hope to our people, we want them to listen to us. Our party wants to rescue Nigeria and our candidate is a unifier; he wants to restructure Nigeria.
Eight years of APC (All Progressives Congress) has left us sharply divided. The issue is that we must practise what we preach. If we want to unify Nigeria, we must unify PDP first,” he said.
Describing the PDP as capable of doing so, Makinde said the must have the “willingness to bring inclusivity to PDP” if it wants to “restructure Nigeria”.
“Do we have the capacity? The answer is a resounding yes,” he said
Delivering the message of the South West PDP as the only PDP governor in the region, Makinde said, “The message from South West PDP is the South-West is asking that NWC of 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.”