Wike accuses Ayu of not wanting to resign because he will lose control of PDP finances

GOVERNOR Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has accused Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairman Senator Iyorchia Ayu of refusing requests to resign because he wants to remain in charge of party finances which he has not accounted for since assuming office.

Over recent months, Senator Ayu has been at the centre of a political storm, as a faction of his party is demanding that he resign his position after former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was elected as the PDP flagbearer for next year's presidential election. With Alhaji Abubakar coming from the north of the country like Senator Ayu, the Wike wing of the party has demanded the immediate resignation of the chairman and his replacement with a southerner.

Governor Wike was a candidate in that election but he was beaten into second place and to make matters worse for him, he was not then picked as the party's running mate. With Alhaji Abubakar opting to pick Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as his running mate, Governor Wike has been on the war path and he and four other governors known as the G5, have insisted that Senator Ayu mist resign as a condition for them supporting Alhaji Abubakar's candidacy.

Speaking in Port Harcourt over the weekend, Governor Wike  accused the PDP national chairman of being very corrupt and not being accountable for the money that enters the party’s coffers. He added that as a result of the fact that he was controlling all this money, Senator Ayu is reluctant to resign, since it would mean him losing access to it.

Governor Wike said: “Why does he not want to resign? He is hoping that Nigerians will donate money to the party so he will superintendent over that money.

“He has already finished the N11bn from the party’s primaries. Account for it, he says it is in the account but show the public the account. Print out the statement of account of PDP and let the world see how the N11bn was expended.

“This is the party that all of us have laboured to take over power from the ruling party that we said has done badly and then the national chairman will open his mouth to talk about stopping contestants. Ayu tried it in Rivers State as he came to manipulate and try to put some gubernatorial aspirants but he saw the result. We dealt with him."