BY MAYOWA SAMUEL
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has again hit back at the Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, Iyorchia Ayu, for describing him and other governors calling for his resignation from office as children and boys.
Wike fired back at the former Senate President on Thursday during the commissioning of Omerelu Internal roads in the Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state.
The Point had reported on Thursday that Ayu aside calling those seeking his resignation as children, also insisted that he won’t resign, as he would not allow people calling for his resignation to destroy PDP.
But in Wike’s reaction to the remark, he condemned Ayu’s ingratitude and arrogance after being helped to emerge as the party’s National Chairman by the same people he now calls children.
There were reports that Ayu before the party’s presidential primary, promised to step down from office if the presidential candidate of the party emerged from the North, hence, Wike urged him to be a man of honour by keeping to his word and resign from office.
Wike said, “It’s unfortunate that somebody said where were you when we founded the party, that those of you that said the right thing must be done are boys and children. You can imagine what power can do. You can imagine how ingratitude, how people can be ingrates in their lives.
“I thought as the chairman of a party, who wants to win the election, your business is to bring peace to your party, not to divide your party, not to show arrogance to your party.
“But Ayu said we are children, yes, but those children brought you to be Chairman of the party. The children brought you from the gutter to make you chairman. Ayu, you were impeached as Senate President; Ayu, you were sacked by Obasanjo in his administration two times. Arrogance cannot take you anywhere. Now we are seeing that you don’t want the party to win the election, we will help you.
“Ayu, you said you founded this party, but you left the party in 2007. You founded a company, you left the company.
People stood and brought out the company to what it is today, you have no moral right to still come and claim that you founded that company. You left with your shares, other shareholders have come in.
“You want to show a party to Nigerians that you want to take over, you must convince Nigerians that we have integrity. You are the driver that will drive the vehicle to convey us to our destination, that’s the victory we are looking for. If the driver has no integrity, cannot show honesty, how do you convince Nigerians? If now you tell Nigerians something, you cannot do it, is it when you enter into power that you will do it?
“We are the ones who championed that the chairmanship should be zoned to the North, even though most of my colleagues from the South refused it. Ayu where were you? You were sleeping in your house, you were calling me virtually every second per second, (saying) thank you, my brother.
“I have kept quiet thinking that we will reconcile, now that you have brought arrogance to say you were elected, show me where your poster was anywhere in the street. Even though we gave you money to go and do posters, you put it in your pocket. It’s unfortunate.
“I will tell Nigerians what you told us at the appropriate time. Nigerians will know the kind of characters that want to come into power.
While emphasising that he won’t win votes in Rivers State, Wike alleged that Ayu was staying put in order to oversee the N14 billion the party realised from the primary.
“So, because of our simple money we made from the primaries, about N14 billion, that is why I won’t resign, nothing more, just N14 billion in the account, nothing else. Let me preside over the expenditure, that’s all.
“You can’t come to Rivers State and take our vote, go and take Benue first, now you’ve said your governor is a boy. I don’t know why those who left the party are the ones claiming to be the founders of the party. You are talking to people who salvaged the party as small children,” the governor said.
Also in attendance at the event on Thursday was a former PDP national deputy chairman, Olabode George.
