BoT pushes for retention of Ayu as PDP chairman till end of 2023 elections

The Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday recommended the retention of the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, in the position till the end of the 2023 general elections.

In a communique issued at the end of their meeting in Abuja and signed by the Chairman of the BoT, Adolphus Wabara, the members urged Ayu to give a firm assurance that he would resign from the position after next year’s elections.

They also urged aggrieved parties to refrain from making inflammatory remarks as the PDP perfected strategies for the elections.

A group of five governors – Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) – are demanding the resignation of the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, over his role in the crisis that hit the party after the conclusion of its presidential primary on May 28.

The governors pulled out of the party’s presidential campaign council last month and were absent in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom, where the party flagged-off its campaign last Monday to press home their demand for the resignation of the embattled national chairman.

Wike had on Tuesday vowed to continue the push for Ayu’s resignation as the party’s helmsman.

READ ALSO: PDP BoT meeting with Wike ends in stalemate

The communique read: “The BoT called on all Party Leaders and persons close to them to desist forthwith from making further inflammatory remarks or press interviews.

“The Board called on the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum to convene a meeting of the forum without further delay.

“We called on all leaders of the party to match words with action and where commitments are made to unconditionally fulfill same.

“The BoT urged the National Chairman as an eminent leader, to give a firm assurance that he will resign his position after the 2023 election. In the same vein, the BoT Chairman has been authorized to offer apologies on behalf of all members who feel maligned or aggrieved by the public statements made by its members nationwide that have sharpened the current division in the party.

“The BoT also called on the presidential candidate to review its membership of the Presidential Campaign Council, and other advisory appointments to make it all-inclusive.

“Finally, the BoT will refer some of these recommendations for noting and appropriate action to NEC of the party in due course.”

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