By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has declared that the call by a chieftain of the party and its former Deputy National Chairman (South), Commodore Olabode George, rtd, for the resignation of the party’s National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu did not represent the views of the majority of the party members.
The party specifically said that George merely expressed his personal views which did not represent the preponderance of the views of a majority of the members of the party.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, said this yesterday while responding to questions on views expressed by Chief Bode George in recent interview among other issues.
Ologunagba, who made it very clear that PDP holds George in high esteem, stressed that the party recognizes and respects the right of every member to express personal opinions, which may not necessarily be a reflection of the view of a majority of members.
According to Ologunagba, “We respect his (Bode George’s) views, but his views cannot be equated with the view of the majority of Our members.
“The view of a member, no matter how highly placed cannot be equated with that of the majority of members.
“Right now, we need to recognize the need for the party to remain united. We have a system, a robust conflict resolution mechanism, we are getting to our destination which is peace in the party and the resolution of our security challenges nationwide”, he explained.
The NPS of the PDP however said that he was not aware that any other person or group of persons has/have given the resignation of Dr Iyorchia Ayu as a condition for peace in the party.
The party’s national spokesperson similarly dismissed the claims that the Rivers State Governor, Barrister Nyesom Wike, was planning to quit the PDP because of disagreements between both parties.
In the words of Ologunagba, “He (Wike) Is an important member of this party, he is a man who has invested so much in this party, he has also harvested so much from the party and the party has also promoted him.
“He has said in so many fora that he is a committed party man and has remained loyal to the party since inception.
“Before the presidential primaries, which he contested, he told the whole world that he was ready to respect the outcome of the elections. I have no evidence that he has changed his mind”, he said.
Ologunagba, while answering a question on the ongoing reconciliatory moves within the party, said, “Reconciliation is not not a 100 meters dash, it is a marathon. Nigerians have a right to expect quick fixes because they have been pillaged over the last 7 years.
“I know for a fact that there are behind the scene discussions which details cannot be put on the pages of newspapers.
“Slowly we are getting there, we need to get away from the current state of affairs as a nation”, he stated.
Speaking further, Ologunagba said, “We don’t want to go into the coming elections with a constitutional crisis, we have barely six months to the elections.
“Even if you say Ayu should go today, his replacement comes from the same north.
“There has been a precedence, when (Umaru) Yar’adua became our candidate (2007), Ahmadu Alli, a fellow northerner was national chairman and remained so until the party won the 2003 elections.
“Several organs of the party have met at different occasions and have passed vote of confidence on his (Ayu’s) leadership and the National Working Committee.
“Elections are coming and we don’t need a distraction. You can’t destroy the whole for a part, we respect people’s rights and positions but going into negotiations, you cannot say it is either this or nothing.
“It means you’re not ready to negotiate, we don’t have that in our party, we are all interested in the survival of our party and our nation Nigeria. We will look at the need to do balancing”, he said.
