PDP Crisis: After ‘Exposing’ Ayu, Wike, Makinde, Ortom, Ikpeazu Jet Out To Spain For Meeting

The crisis tearing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) apart is not showing any sign of subsiding as a bloc seeking the resignation of the party’s national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, has left the country on Saturday to hold a meeting in Spain.

The bloc comprising Governors Seyi Makinde, Samuel Ortom, and Okezie Ikpeazu and led by Governor Nyesom Wike, is demanding Ayu’s resignation as the primary condition for supporting the PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the February 25 election.

The scheduled meeting in Spain is not the first time the southern PDP governors would be travelling out of the country to meet.

They had converged on London in August, where they insisted on Ayu’s resignation during a meeting with Atiku held at The Carlton Tower Jumeirah Hotel.

The scheduled meeting in Spain is coming less than 48hours after Governor Wike of Rivers State levelled fresh corruption against Ayu during a media chat in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The governors left the country through the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, reports The Punch.

“If people know what we know, if we release what we have, Ayu’s children will go to him and say we are no longer your children,” Wike had said, adding “Let Ayu say he did not collect N1 billion. In fact, let me also tell you, Ayu collected N100 million naira from a governor that he was going to renovate our democratic institution and then he (Ayu) went back to the PDP NWC and took the same N100 million naira for doing the same work.”

During a previous media chat in September, the Rivers Governor had accused Ayu of dishonestly collecting N1 billion from an unnamed presidential candidate and businessmen in Lagos State.

Meanwhile, Ayu had in response to Wike’s latest allegation against him denied receiving N1 billion from the said presidential aspirant.

He, however, admitted receiving N100 million from a sitting governor but noted that he “fully briefed the BoT that one of our governors made a contribution of N100 million for the revival of the PDI [Peoples Democratic Institute]”.

On Wike’s previous allegation, he said: “I decided not to respond not to encourage altercations in the party. However, I want to make it clear that at no time did I, as the national chairman of the party, collect any N1 billion from anybody.

“When we came in and the party had funding difficulties, the presidential candidate suggested that we should take a loan from the bank and the owner of that bank is a member of the party. He has even left the party.

“The party never took any loan from anybody. Any money advanced to the party was declared before the NWC and handed over to the national treasurer. All our accounts are up to date and we promised to publish the accounts at the end of the year.”