Rivers State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, his Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde, and other stakeholders have decided not to take part in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP presidential campaign.

The governors maintain that in order for them to take part, Senator Lyorchia Ayu, chairman of the PDP, must step down from his position.

They stressed that publishing the Presidential Campaign Council list before the Senator Ayu ongoing scandal has been resolved is equivalent to placing the cart before the horse.

Following an important meeting that took place early on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, governor Makinde expressed the expectation that the PDP’s top brass will pay attention to facts and take the appropriate action.

They are concerned about the differences within the party, according to Chief Olabode George, the former PDP South-West national vice chairman, who read out the communiqué following the meeting.

He lamented the leadership’s inability to use the internal conflict resolution procedures to assure inclusivity of everyone and that PDP’s win.

The identification of Aminu Tambuwal, the governor of Sokoto State, by Senator Ayu as the PDP presidential primaries hero, according to the former governor of Plateau State, Senator Jonah Jang, is in opposition to the principles of fairness, fair play, and equity on which the party was founded.

“It is true that everything is been done for us to have internal democracy in the party. But, for the national chairman, Senator lyorchia Ayu to go and embrace Tambuwal, calling him the hero of the convention, which means there was a private arrangement that was done with Tambuwal to short change other contestants, including governor Wike. Here was a referee who now help one of the sides to score a goal, and then blow the whistle that a goal had been scored.” – he said.

The former Plateau State governor stressed that;

“This is not what we formed the PDP to do for Nigerians, and therefore, we unequivocally asked that Ayu has to step down, so that having got the presidential candidate from the northern part of the country through his assistance, he should as well now step down so that a national chairman can move to the south, and the party can be united for the campaign towards 2023.“

He asserted that the call for Senator Ayu’s resignation made by Governor Wike and others aims to correct the structural imbalance in the party’s hierarchical structure.

Former Minister of Information Prof. Jerry Gana stated that the PDP cannot reorganize Nigeria if it cannot reform itself.

He emphasized that as devoted PDP supporters, they genuinely wanted the PDP to win back power and give Nigerians quality administration.

“But that cannot be achieved unless we have a proper structure of the party as designed by the founding fathers. We are men and women who are committed to the issues of justice, fairness, equity. You cannot build on a faulty foundation.”

Gana maintained that they will remain committed members of PDP, but will continue to insist that the right things be done.

“We remain PDP, but we want things done justly, fairly, equitably. Therefore, this call for the chairman to step down or resign is not because any of us is aggrieved, but because we believed it is important to ensure a fair structure, a just structure, a principle structure, a constitutional structure for the party. If we want to restructure Nigeria, we should have the courage to restructure our party. And that is why we have met and decided that this is extremely important, and therefore we want Nigerians to know.” – he said.

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