PDP Crisis: South West Leaders Suspect Iyorchia Ayu Working For Tinubu

Some leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party in the South West dissatisfied with the recently conducted state congresses in the zone have expressed suspicion that the National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, may be working with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to kill the party in the zone.

When Ayu, former Senate president, was elected National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party on October 31 last year through a consensus arrangement, he inspired the hope that the party could pick up the pieces and once again reclaim its status as the leading party.

As a foundation member of the party, he was seen as the man to bring back members who defected and unite the party ahead of the 2023 election.

But that belief seems to be dying gradually, especially in the South West where he has been unable to resolve any of the crises he met since taking over the leadership of the party.

The Ogun State chapter of the party, which has been factionalized since 2020, is still embroiled in crisis with no resolution in sight.

On February 18 this year, a Federal High Court sitting in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital advised a factional chairman of the party, Samson Bamgbose, and five others to take their grievances to the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

In Osun, a governorship aspirant of the party, Akin Ogunbiyi, withdrew from the state’s governorship primary on March 7, accusing Ayu’s NWC of working to coronate one of the candidates.

He told journalists after formally withdrawing from the race that “The people coming from Abuja will do the dictates of their leaders, they have made up their minds to give the primary to Sen. Ademola Adeleke, I can only come to the conclusion to withdraw from the race, though very difficult for me.”

Senator Adeleke was later declared the winner of the election.

In Lagos where Chief Bode George is seen as the leader of the party, forces in the party are allegedly trying to exclude his supporters from key party positions ahead of the governorship primary.

Supporters of Chief George, who is a huge critic of the Tinubu leadership in Lagos State, said they have seen open attempts to scheme him and his supporters out, and alleged it is the script of Tinubu playing out in Lagos and other states in the southwest.

The PDP state congress held on February 28 which produced a former Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Tourism in Lagos State, Mr. Philip Aivoji, is seen as a consummation of the plot to exclude him, with Chief George saying Aivoji cannot win Lagos for the PDP.

Chief George, a former deputy national chairman of the party, warned the NWC not to allow the congress that produced Aivoji to stand, saying the party may have just been set up to crash against the APC in 2023.

He said the congress, presided by Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri, was a charade, adding that he was sent by “selfish interests within and outside our party.”

Lagos party leaders close to George confided in THE WHISTLER that some leaders of the party in the South West are of the opinion that Ayu, in cohort with former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, was working with Tinubu to weaken the PDP in the zone.

“Look at all the state chapters of the PDP in the southwest, they’re all in crisis and there are no serious attempts to resolve them,” said a party chieftain in Ikeja. “If Ayu and Fayose are not working with Tinubu, the situation would have changed.”

Another party leader in Surulere said, “We strongly suspect Ayu is serving Tinubu in this zone. We know he and Tinubu are friends; they were in the senate together in 1992 when Ayu was senate president and gave Tinubu chairman of the appropriation committee.

“One of the key aides of Ayu at the time later worked in the administration of Tinubu in Lagos when he became governor in 1999.”

As things stand, stakeholders of Lagos PDP are unable to agree on the way forward while the Ayu leadership simply watches on.

A source within the hierarchy of the party also told this website that Ayu had ignored suggestions that elders of the party in the zone be supported to resolve the crises in the state chapters.

“But instead, Ayu would send people from other zones who do not fully understand the situation on the ground to come and resolve the crisis,” said the source who added that “this is why we still have these problems more nearly five months after Ayu’s election.”

For now, it remains to be seen when stakeholders like the Chairman of Lagos State Elders Committee of PDP, and former Minister of Cooperation and Integration in Africa, Dr. Bimbo Ogunkelu; former Lagos Deputy Governor, Mrs. Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele; Mr. Segun Adewale, immediate past state chairman, Adedeji Doherty and a host of others would be ready to bury their differences in the interest of the party.

Ayu had said after his affirmation at the Eagles Square convention of the party that “PDP is back to rescue Nigeria from the terrible mess of the last six years.”

But when THE WHISTLER called Debo Ologunagba, National Publicity Secretary of the party, to get his reaction, he dismissed the suggestion.

“That’s not correct. It’s not deliberate. Number one, reconciliation is a process, a marathon and not a dash. Therefore, you might expect to get results in five days and you get it in ten days. What makes the difference in the reconciliation process is the continuous engagement to resolve issues. This NWC that is led by Senator Ayu has been consistent in resolving crisis not only in the south west but all over the country.

“When this NWC came on board, it set up a high-powered reconciliation committee comprising of seven members of the NWC, seven members of the board of trustees, seven members of the governors’ forum and members of the leadership of the National Assembly. These are all major and important organs of the party, and they’ve been working.

“They have been working and throughout the December period, they didn’t go on vacation. You can see today, Ekiti has been reconciled. But like I said, reconciliation and settling of crisis is not s sprint, but a marathon. It would be misleading for anyone to insinuate that the leadership of Ayu is not interested in settling the crisis in South West for any reason.”