The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prof. Iyorchia Ayu has sued for peace between Governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, saying there should be no more washing of “dirty linen in public.”
Ayu was speaking at a joint meeting of the board of trustees and national executive committee of the party on Wednesday at the PDP headquarters in Abuja, on how to chart a new course on the presidential ticket towards the 2023 election.
The meeting comes after series of meetings of different caucuses as each group devised means to get the party’s presidential ticket to its zone.
Both Wike and Obaseki were present with the countenance of the former betraying the advice being offered by the party’s National Chairman.
Wike maintained a straight face all through the meeting.
Ayu condemned what he described as attacks on one another by highly placed party members pointing out that all focus should be on winning elections.
Wike and Obaseki had traded insults following interview by Mr Philip Shaibu, the Edo deputy governor.
Wike had condemned Shaibu for “daring to threaten” the PDP, asking “who’s your father?”
Obaseki had risen to his deputy’s defence saying Edo does not “accept political bullies and overlords”.
This prompted scathing attack from Wike saying he was “ungrateful” warning that the governor alongside his deputy will suffer political consequences for attacking the party.
Ayu laid bared his mind on the consequences of a divided house going into “a big election” and advised party members to settle differences “in-house”.
He said, “I am calling on every single member of the PDP family to put their differences aside. We are not out to fight against ourselves; our goal is unite the party, go out as we used to do, win elections as we used to do,” he said.
In a somber tone, he again called “on every member of this party to forget their differences. If there are differences, we must settle our differences in-house. No party member should attack another party member.
“If there are any issues, we have different organs of the party to resolve party differences.”
