The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, said the party’s National Chairman, Senator Iyioricha Ayu, cannot be forced to resign.
Atiku disclosed this while reacting to the decision of the camp of Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike to withdraw from his campaign council.
REPORTERS AT LARGE earlier reported that Wike’s loyalists have pulled out of Atiku’s campaign council for the 2023 general election.
Disclosing his stand in a statement he personally signed, Atiku said, “On the calls for the resignation or removal from office of our national chairman, however, I must reiterate what I have said severally in public and in private; the decision for Dr Iyorchia Ayu to resign from office is personal to Dr Ayu and, neither I nor anyone else can make that decision for him.”
Engr. Seyi Makinde, Oyo State Governor and strong ally of Wike, reiterated the call for Ayu to resign last week during Atiku’s visit to the state to meet with party stakeholders.
The call for the party’s national chairman’s registration divided stakeholders in the South West, as the majority queued behind Ayu, who is currently out of the country.
