LAGOS — Given what has been described as the hardline position of some critical actors in the crisis ravaging the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, a member of the Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, has said that focus has shifted from reconciliation to campaign proper.
The PCC member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, hinted that the camp of the Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is no longer looking in the direction of reconciliation because “the train has moved.”
Governor Nysome Wike of Rivers State and his allies, which include four other PDP governors, are insisting on the resignation of the National Chairman, Dr Iyorchai Ayu, as a condition for supporting Atiku Abubakar at the poll.
However, the PCC member said moves by Wike and his allies to influence votes against the PDP candidate in their respective states will fail because “Atiku’s rallies have been widely accepted. The campaign is going on smoothly; so far so good, there is wide acceptance of Atiku every where he has gone to campaign.
“Wike and his allies have a right to talk and they have a right to support whoever they deem fit but equating themselves as one individual being the totality of votes from their states is an irresponsible statement to make. In Oyo State for instance, can a Makinde say people should not vote for Atiku?
It is irresponsible to say you will determine how the people in your state will vote.
“Makinde is neither Obafemi Awolowo nor Bola Ige. He is just one politician who is struggling to survive in his local politics. He has no authority to determine how the people of Oyo State will vote.
“What strength does he have to say he can determine who wins in Oyo State? He cannot appropriate the right of the political survey in his state.”
When asked about the reconciliation committee, the source said the party has moved on, adding that the campaign train will stop if any of the aggrieved members is willing to join.
“The point here is that the train has moved on, nobody is looking in that direction any longer. What obtains is that if anyone of them wants to join the train, we will stop and accommodate him but to say that people still talk to them, I don’t think anyone is looking in that direction any longer.”
Ayu upbeat about Atiku’s victory
Indeed, Ayu, yesterday, expressed confidence that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa will emerge victorious at the 2023 poll.
This, he said, is without prejudice to the current disagreements among tendencies within the party.
Ayu who spoke through his Media Adviser, Simon Imobo-Tswam, in a chat with newsmen, in Abuja, noted that the party leadership has not foreclosed reconciliation before the polls.
However, the G-5 Governors under the leadership of Wike are insisting that the party should blame its National Chairman in the event it loses the presidential election.
This, they said, was because “Ayu, has consistently demonstrated a level of arrogance which is alien to an opposition party which intends to win an election.”
Ayu’s spokesman, Simon Imobo-Tswan, in the media chat told newsmen that the PDP remains the party to beat in the 2023 general elections.
He said: “The coming election is for PDP to lose. This is our election to lose, everything is in favour of the PDP and there are five reasons why the party will win the election.
“The candidate’s experience, his preparation and network across the country; the hand of destiny and providence in the life of our candidate Atiku Abubakar. The political history also favours Atiku and also there is the APC’s legacy of shame.
“Whether it is Oyo, Kano, Kaduna, Edo, it is all about Atiku, you can gauge the mood of the country, everybody is ready for the PDP. People will reject the APC and are saying they want a better deal. PDP is good to go.
“Nigerians will say no to continuity of insecurity, poverty, hunger; they will vote for a better deal that Atiku represents.“
In response to a question on comments made by Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom, to the effect that the state will not vote for the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Ayu’s aide noted that the comments do not represent the consensus opinion of party stakeholders across the state.
He said: “Before the Governor (Ortom) spoke (at the PDP campaign flag-off), former governor Gabriel Suswam who represents voters in Zone ‘A’ spoke, in Zone ‘C’ where David Mark comes from, Senator Abba Moro, also spoke, so zone ‘A’ and ‘C’ is for the presidential candidate, that is two against one.
“In the zone in contention (Senatorial Zone B) where the governor comes from, the chairman is also from there. So, it is two against one. So the PDP is ready to go.”
Asked whether the open opposition of the five aggrieved PDP governors would affect the overall chances of the party during the polls , he replied in the negative.
Specifically, he was asked if the PDP could still win the elections despite the position of the five aggrieved governors he said, “Yes, in spite of the position of the five governors, PDP will still win.
“Why do I say so? Elections are not going to be held tomorrow, we are still talking, the window is still open and our message is that of diplomacy, with reconciliation we are stronger.
“We may have issues in the party but our eyes are on the ball. That is our focus, our opponents are not in PDP, they are outside PDP, there are APC and that is our target.
“We are talking, Rivers will vote for PDP, Rivers has been PDP since 1999 and the governor cannot just throw away the history because of issues that can be resolved.
“PDP will win in Benue, Rivers, we are targeting 25 states. We cannot rule out Benue, Oyo or Rivers, 25 is more than what the PDP currently controls. So PDP is wining minimum 25 states out of 36.”
‘Ayu’s arrogance
triggered crisis’
In response, a source within the camp of the G-5 governors said, “Ayu’s arrogance, political miscalculations, immaturity is responsible for the seemingly intractable crisis within our party.
The source who pleaded anonymity because the governors were “preparing to review current trends and prepare for the next phase of the struggle” noted that Ayu and his supporters were living in denial “even as opposition to his rule is growing within our ranks.”
The source said: “Ayu at the moment is not having it easy with at least, seven of our party’s 13 governors including the governor of his home state, Benue, Samuel Ortom, who championed his emergence as the national chairman.
“The governors of Bauchi and Akwa-Ibom states, like their five openly aggrieved colleagues have not been forthcoming in terms of logistics support for obvious reasons.”
The source further revealed that Ortom briefed his colleagues on previous efforts he had championed to mediate by bringing Atiku who enjoys the privilege of having the highest Tiv traditional title given to a non-native — the Zege Mule U Tiv, (Big Shelter of Tiv) to the table.
According to the source, “Ortom had made efforts to arrange a peace meeting between Atiku and the Tiv nation but Ayu misled Atiku into frustrating a peace meeting between the presidential candidate and the Tiv traditional council which is believed Governor Ortom had put together to facilitate a political understanding in the state .
“You see, Ayu has the privilege of having his own state governor, Ortom, among the five aggrieved governors. He ought to have through Ortom, met with the aggrieved governors and explained issues with the aim of sorting things out. But he abused all those opportunities.”
Earlier, Imobo-Tswam in response to a question on why the Tor Tiv was not involved in attempts to resolve the political rift between Ayu and Ortom, said, “I cannot speak for the Tor Tiv, but this is a family affair and the party is managing it, activating the internal crisis resolution mechanism, so when it gets beyond the family, maybe we can begin to talk about the Tor Tiv.
“Tor Tiv is the father of all so if you bring them into a PDP matter you will risk the APC saying the Chief is a PDP monarch, so at the moment, we are still talking, the cards are on the table and we are still appealing to every aggrieved stakeholder, that crisis in a family did not have to go on forever. Our opponent is the APC and that is where our focus is.”
Ayu’s opponents also alleged that Ayu misled the wife of the presidential candidate, Titi Abubakar, into believing that Ortom had devious plans against Atiku’s presidential ambition. This, it was learnt, further threw a spanner into the works.
The traditional council in Tiv land led by the Tor Tiv is very influential in TV politics.
The party source equally noted that the insistence of the National Chairman to always have his way was hampering peace efforts “because he arrogates to himself all knowledge about the party.
“How can anyone explain a situation where Ayu will call members of the party including founding fathers like Chief Bode George ‘children’ because we disagree with his methods? The source added.
The source further expressed disappointment that Atiku allowed himself to be influenced by Ayu’s arrogance to deride Ortom at every given opportunity, the msst recent being his remarks at a meeting with Arewa leaders in Kaduna last month, which made the Benue governor to demand an immediate apology.
I can’t betray Wike, says Ortom
Signs that the crisis within the party is taking another dimension emerged during the inauguration of the Benue PDP campaign council in Makurdi, on Sunday.
Ortom, at the at the event, said: “Some people are blackmailing me for calling on Ayu to resign. Yes, because I can’t betray Governor Wike.” The source further said, “Governor Ortom was the one who convinced his colleague-governors to support Ayu to emerge as the National Chairman.
“So, it would amount to betrayal if Ayu reneges on his promise and expects him, as governor of Benue state, to support him because he is a Benue man.”
Ortom had stressed that Wike has no problem with Benue people and is only fighting for equity and justice. He said 18 people were killed in Guma Council last week by herdsmen trying to take over Benue land, yet some people want him to keep quiet.
Ortom further said: “At 62, I am ready to die. I have written my will. God has been good to me. My age mates are long dead. So, nobody should blackmail me with my Senate run. Senate or no Senate, to hell with Atiku and anyone supporting him!
“They should go and tell him. You want me to be a slave to a Fulani. It is better I die. Anybody supporting Atiku is an enemy of Benue.”
The G5 also resolved to woo more aggrieved PDP members to their camp from the six zones to give their onslaught a national outlook, and to mobilise to resist the ‘divide-and-rule tactics’ purportedly employed by Atiku to destabilise their state structures. As the five governors, stepped out in Makurdi, the state capital to commission various projects completed by Ortom, they extolled Governor Ortom’s foresight in developing the state in the face of scarce resources.
In the spread of the roads commissioned by the G-5 Governors, political differences was not left out. The road, which is behind the Commissioner’s Quarters in Makurdi, leading to the private residence of Ayu was named after Governor Nyesom Wike.
This could still be a way of getting at Ayu who allegedly distanced himself from those who propped him up for the position he still holds.
Before the inauguration, the G5 took time to address PDP supporters at a rally organised to drum support for all PDP candidates in Benue, including the Speaker of the House of Assembly who is the PDP governorship candidate in the state, Titus Uba.
Wike while hosting his colleagues to dinner the previous night, said the PDP G-5 are bonded to save Nigeria adding that nobody can break their ranks in their continued insistence that Ayu should resign. He said, “People have tried to see how they can break us, you cannot. We are bonded to save Nigeria. That is why when you see all of us, we are impenetrable. Nobody can divide us. They have tried everything in this world to divide us, but no way.”
In their separate speeches at the event, all the senators representing the three senatorial districts of the state, Gabriel Suswam, Emmanuel Orker-Jev and Abba Moro, agreed that the crisis rocking the party and its governors should be put to rest before the general elections.
In placatory tones, Orker-Jev re-echoed Moro’s speech, referring to the crisis as “family troubles” that would be resolved “before the elections.” Suswam also maintained: “PDP has an internal conflict resolution mechanism for sorting out itself.”
However, in their separate speeches, all the G5 governors rejected Suswam’s and his colleagues’ calls for a truce. While they all urged support for Ortom’s senatorial ambition and all PDP candidates in the state, they remained silent on the presidency.