PDP BoT fails to resolve Atiku, Wike rift

The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has failed to resolve the rift between the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike.

Rather, members of the Board, during a meeting at the Abuja PDP national secretariat, resolved to set up a committee to take up the task.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, the BoT chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin said all members of the BoT are members of the committee.

However, snippets at the meeting indicated that the BoT had dismissed the demand by Wike camp that the PDP National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu must step aside.

The Governor’s camp had premised its demand on an agreement said to have been reached earlier, that Ayu will step aside if a Northern emerged the PDP presidential candidate.

Party stakeholders were said to have agreed that the Deputy National Chairman (South) will take the chairmanship seat to replace Ayu who is from the North Central zone.

Most PDP chieftains who identified with Wike’s presidential aspiration did not attend yesterday’s meeting.

A few of them who attended were said to have drawn the attention of the meeting to the fact that the presidential ticket and two key leadership positions are being held by the North.

“The presidential ticket holder, the national chairman and BoT chairman are all from the North. Atiku is from Northeast, Ayu is from North Central and the BoT chair is also from North Central,” one of them was quoted to have said.

Addressing journalists after the meeting, a former Senator, Abdul Ningi, admitted that the rift between Atiku and Wike remained unresolved.

Ningi said:

“We discussed the crisis between our presidential candidate and Governor Nyesom Wike. In getting it resolved, we set up a committee of the whole to urgently interface with the two of them.

“We have set up in this meeting committee of the BoT to be able to interface between warring factions, particularly the acrimony that is taking place between the presidential candidate and governor Wike and any other conflict that is taking place in the nation within our party formation.

“The committee is the committee of the whole, that means every BoT member is a member of the committee. I cannot tell you the grievances and the time frame.

“On Ayu stepping down, we have not even discussed any issue of anybody stepping down. What we discussed is what I have told you”.

Ningi however, said there was no time frame for the committee to conclude its assignment and submit a report.