I will stay and fight, Wike explains decision not to leave PDP

By our reporter| Rivers state governor Nyesom Wike on Thursday said he will not leave the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) despite the crisis currently rocking the party.

The outspoken governor of the oil-rich Rivers made the disclosure during a meeting with PDP stakeholders in the state.

Wike, who lost the PDP presidential primary ticket to Atiku Abubakar in May, and his allies have been calling for the resignation of party chairman, Iyorchie Ayu on the grounds that the party’s presidential candidate and national chairman cannot be from the same region.

Earlier this week after a meeting in Portharcourt, the Wike group announced their withdrawal from the Atiku presidential campaign council headed by Sokoto state governor, Aminu Tambuwal, another northerner.

Responding to the development, the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar asked Wike and his allies to retrace their steps and return to the council as he cannot force Ayu to resign his position.

But in a statement by his spokesman, Kelvin Ebiri, Wike said that the recent developments would not make him leave the party, adding that it is wrong for the party’s presidential candidate, national chairman, and presidential campaign DG to be from the same region.

“One thing I have always told people is if anybody is thinking, doing anything to think that we will leave PDP, foul. We will do the fight in the party. We are not like them, when in 2014 they walked out from Eagle Square. They’ve forgotten. They walked out and joined APC. Is it not correct?” Wike was quoted as saying.

“Did they remain to fight inside the party? But we remained; they ran away. Now, there is a fight in the party, we will not run. We will fight it in this party. Those who run away from fights are weak people. We will not. So, everybody should know this is the state where we are, so that nobody tells you all kind of stories.

“You have taken presidential candidate; you have taken party chairman; you have also taken the DG (director-general) of the campaign. We are talking about party politics. Decisions are made by the presidential candidate, chairman of the party, and the DG of the campaign.

“They are telling you they told the chairman of the BoT to resign. So, you know there is a problem. You said he should go and resign. You can put pressure on him to resign when his tenure hasn’t come to an end, but you cannot put pressure on the chairman to resign. You think at our level you will deceive us; you’ll tell us stories.”