A former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, has said that Wike and his colleagues demanding the resignation of Ayu were pursuing self-interests while hiding under the cloak of protecting southern interests.
Metuh spoke in a chat with the media that “I’m a Southerner, People should stop thinking that this issue is about the South. If it was about the South, they would not have taken the chairmanship from the South to the North in the first place, it would have remained in the South.
“If it was about the South, the Presidency would have been zoned to the South East and the party would say, South Easterners go and run and all other zones would not run. It happened in 2019 when the presidential ticket was zoned to the north other zones didn’t contest.
“If it was zoned to the South East this time around, people like Atiku Abubakar and Aminu Tambuwual would not have contested. Nobody in the north would have contested in our party.
“Those people talking today have deceived the South. The South-West was denied the chairmanship in 2017 and this year’s convention, the South-East was denied the presidential ticket.”
Continuing, the former NWC member noted that Atiku had done all that was expected of him.
“There is nothing people expected Atiku to do that he has not done. He has shown leadership, he has shown tolerance, and has shown discipline. He cannot ask the national chairman to resign because he has no such powers.
“Please, they should stop distracting the Atiku campaign because it is as if some people are plotting Atiku’s downfall so that they can take over the party.
“Part of why I have come to speak in favour of Atiku is because some of us argued, campaigned and lobbied him to return to the party in 2015. I flew to Dubai to ask Atiku to come back to the PDP.
“We want to win this election, if we lose in 2023, nobody should think we can come back and reorganize the party.
“We want to win this election, if we lose this is the end. These people should bring their issues and let us handle them in-house. Right now, it is becoming difficult for Atiku to restrain those who want to fight back, they want to make Atiku look weak and portray him as indecisive as somebody who can pander to the wish of an individual or group even when it is illegal.
“How on earth do you expect that he can stand and defend the interest of the nation if an individual can make him appear weak? If he bends to these people, some of us will not support him.”