Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice president of Nigeria, has responded to calls for the resignation of the party’s National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu.
He advised those advocating Ayu’s resignation to follow the laid-down rules as circumscribed in the constitution of the party.
Atiku, who led other leaders of the party to Ibadan on Wednesday for an interactive session with stakeholders of the PDP, said that the call for the recomposition of the National Working Committee was not impossible, but only when the constitution of the party had been amended to accommodate such demand.
According to him, “the Peoples Democratic Party is the oldest political party in Nigeria since the return of democracy and even before then. It is a party that has laid down rules and regulations.
“I have been a member of the party since when it was formed and I am still a member of the party up to the point of what it has grown to become.”
In his response to the call by some governors of the party calling for the ouster of Ayu as national chairman, which was also reaffirmed by the chief host of the event and governor of Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde, Atiku said, “there is nothing any individual can do to change the outlook of the National Working Committee of the PDP.”
He remarked further that, “the PDP is a party where there are laid down rules and regulations. What Governor Makinde is asking for is possible only when we have amended our party’s constitution. As things stand today no single individual has the power to tamper with the NWC of the party. Doing so will be illegal and it will be against our rules in the party.
“Nigerians will not trust us to govern by the tenets of rule of law if we take such arbitrary action against our own party.”
Stay ahead with the latest updates! Join The ConclaveNG on WhatsApp and Telegram for real-time news alerts, breaking stories, and exclusive content delivered straight to your phone. Don’t miss a headline — subscribe now!
