You lack integrity, stop Ortom, others if you can, Wike dares Ayu

•I won’t work for Atiku till PDP chair resigns, says Makinde

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has chided National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Iyorchia Ayu for threatening to stop the 2023 political ambitions of Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom and others kicking against his (Ayu) refusal to resign.

Wike described Ayu as a man lacking in integrity and whose actions have shown that the PDP under his leadership would never change for good.

The governor spoke just as his Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde insisted at the weekend that, in as much as Ayu remained the chairman of the PDP,  he would work only for the victory of the party’s candidates in the state.

Makinde is one of the  Wike-led PDP governors and stakeholders that vowed not to join the campaign train of the opposition party’s presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar if Ayu did not resign.  Their demand is on the grounds that Atiku and Ayu hail from the same region(North).

Wike, in a chat with reporters in Port Harcourt, alleged that Ayu was not ready to quit because he had his eyes set on donations that would be made to the party for the general elections.

The governor said he was alarmed that the national chairman could threaten the  2023 ambitions of some members of the party, especially Ortom, who stood as his guarantor when he made his intention to vie for the position known.

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Wike, who also described some PDP members on Atiku’s campaign train as con men, said Ayu lacked the power to stop anyone from contesting an election.

His words: “I heard when he said ‘I would have stopped Ortom from running. You see how ungrateful human beings are. This was the same Governor Ortom, who pleaded with us, and said  listen, ‘I can take this risk and let him become the national chairman

“This is a man, who never campaigned anywhere. This is a man who never bought form, or bought a poster. Now, he is threatening to stop the man who brought him, who became his guarantor.

“He (Ayu) has seen money, he has seen power, now he can open his mouth to say if he wants to stop Ortom he would have. But we dare him. And he said he can also stop any contestant. He doesn’t know anything. I dare him.

“He (Ayu) is just playing to the gallery. He does not have what it takes. He doesn’t have it.

“Ayu has no integrity. It is a terrible thing. This is not the Tivs I read about in history. This is one Ayu is no.”

Giving further reasons why Ayu was not ready to resign, Wike said: “Why is he (Ayu) not going to resign? He is hoping that Nigerians will donate money to the party so that he will superintend over that money.”.

Wike also chided Atiku’s spokesman,   Dele Momodu, for cautioning him and members of his group not to cross the redline.

He said: “These are the things I am talking about. When did he (Momodu) come into the PDP? He came into the PDP two weeks before the presidential race.  All of you know how many times Dele Momodu has been in Port Harcourt for project commissioning.

“I have said I will remain in the PDP and fight for our rights. I will not leave the party, and that is what makes the difference. Check them, what are their votes?

I am not looking for a job. I am not looking to be a minister. When you see most of the people around, they have no job. At the appropriate time, we will begin to tell them who they are. Most of them are con men..”

*Makinde: I won’t work for Atiku

In Ibadan, Makinde said  Wike’s group would not back down from its position that a Southerner is made the national chairman of the party.

“We will focus on winning our elections in Oyo State. I, Seyi Makinde, will stay in my comfort zone if the needful is not done. I am not a slave in this country, but we still have the time,” the governor said while featuring on Southwest Political Circuit, a popular programme on Fresh 105.9 FM.

When reminded that the presidential  and  National Assembly elections would hold the same day,  the governor argued  that voters were now more politically- conscious than before

He said: “We will score 100 percent in Oyo State, the people have made up their minds to vote for us because they have tasted several governments in Oyo State.

“Oyo State people will not vote to be in slavery because lean freedom is better than fat slavery.”

The Nation