A former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olabode George, has insisted that a southern candidate must replace Iyorchia Ayu as the national chairman of the party before the beginning of the 2023 election campaigns scheduled for September 28, 2022.
He said Ayu, who is from the northern part of the country, could not continue to hold the position since the presidential candidate of the party is from the North.
George, who spoke at a press conference in Lagos on Thursday, said Ayu’s refusal to fulfil his promise meant that members of the party in the south were of no importance.
He said, “ Let me reiterate again that the will of the people must be respected and the six top offices in the country must be distributed equitably and fairly because PDP is not a private company. The office of the National Chairman must come to the South before we commence the presidential campaign if victory is to be secured in the next general election.
“In May this year, we elected our presidential candidate in the person of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, setting aside the principle of rotation as enshrined in the constitution of our party in the interest of peace and unity of our party. Today, we are in a situation in which our National Chairman is from the same zone as our presidential candidate.
“Some people are insisting that there is nothing wrong with this present arrangement. Some have argued that this happened during Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, where the candidate and the national chairman were from the same zone.