The People’s Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on Wednesday, responded to a call by Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, that the party’s Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, step down for a southerner.
Like his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike, Makinde insists Ayu must resign since he is a northerner like Atiku.
But responding during the South-West PDP meeting in Ibadan, Atiku said such could only happen if the PDP’s constitution was amended.
He said, “We cannot do anything outside our constitution except if it is amended. We cannot do anything unless the laws are amended.
“Ayu must go through our constitution, rules, regulations, and our practice, otherwise we cannot give the kind of leadership Nigerians want.
“It is possible, it is achievable, we have done it before and we have started doing it again.”
Makinde had conveyed the message of the region to the party presidential candidate; that Ayu must resign to give room for fairness and equity.
He said there were issues on the structural deficiency in the party to be addressed before the 2023 election.
“If we want to unify Nigeria, we must unify PDP first. If we want government of national unity, it must reflect in PDP.
“If we want to restructure in Nigeria, we must restructure PDP first.
“Our presidential candidate is from North-East, our National Chairman is from North Central, the Director General of Atiku campaign, Aminu Tambuwal, is from the North-West, so the PDP National Chairman should step down now for peace to reign.”
