Politics

PDP Summons NEC Meeting, South-West Caucus Joins Call For Ayu’s Removal

Published

3 years ago

August 7, 2022

The South-West arm of the Peoples Democratic Party has joined the push for the resignation of the National Chairman of the PDP, Iyorchia Ayu.

Notable South-West members of the PDP told Sunday PUNCH on Saturday that with the All Progressives Congress picking its Presidential candidate from the South-West in the person of Bola Tinubu, the PDP would also need an influential politician from the region to be the party’s chairman.

There are demands from the camp of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State for Ayu to resign as the party’s chairman.

The demand was among the conditions given by Wike who is still said to be aggrieved over Atiku’s refusal to pick him as a running mate. Already, Wike and Atiku have begun meeting with a view to ensuring that a compromise is reached before the commencement of campaigns next month.

However, PUNCH learnt that the South-West is also demanding Ayu’s exit as a condition to support the party.

“Tinubu is campaigning as the candidate of the Yoruba people. Even Sanwo-Olu said recently that all Yoruba people must see Tinubu as their personal project. The PDP needs to make a huge concession for the South-West which has the second largest voting population after the North-West,” a member of the State Working Committee in Ekiti State said.

Also speaking to PUNCH, a former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Bode George, said Ayu must leave immediately in the spirit of fairness.

George, who said he was speaking as a national leader and not on behalf of the South-West, said there was a need for the region to be given a sense of belonging as all the key positions in the party were being occupied by northerners.

“Ayu needs to resign as chairman immediately while the South-West gets the position in the spirit of fairness. I cannot campaign for the party in the South-West in an atmosphere where there is no fairness. What will I tell our people?” he asked.

George, who was the Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign in 2007, said the PDP could pick an interim chairman from the South-West just for the purpose of fairness.

He argued that refusing to take Nigeria’s diversity into consideration would make the PDP no better than the APC which is pushing a Muslim/Muslim ticket.

“NEC can appoint an acting chairman from the South-West in order to give the region a sense of belonging. Ayu promised to leave office once the PDP produces a northern Presidential candidate. For the sake of fairness, he needs to step down immediately.

“The PDP as presently constituted does not reflect Nigeria’s diversity. The North produced the Presidential candidate, the national chairman and the BoT chairman and they want the South to accept this. Would the North have accepted this if it was the other way around?” he asked.

Attempts to get a response from the National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, proved abortive as he did not respond to repeated calls on Saturday.

However, a member of the National Working Committee who wished to remain anonymous said removing Ayu now would be too risky.

The official, who preferred not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the PDP Constitution states that whenever a national officer of the party resigns, he must be replaced by someone from his region.

Politics

VIDEO: How Peter Obi Betrayed Me – Kenneth Okonkwo In New Interview

Published

2 days ago

June 14, 2025

Editor

Veteran actor and ex-spokesperson of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Kenneth Okonkwo, has accused former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, of betrayal in the wake of internal party disputes.

In a viral interview with Symfoni which started trending on Saturday, Okonkwo, who officially exited the Labour Party in February 2025, revealed that Obi went against his advice and returned to support the embattled Julius Abure-led faction of the party, despite alleged warnings.

According to him, Obi was misled by LP executives who claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission had recognised them.

He said, “Any politician that knows what he’s doing cannot be betrayed by another. If there is anybody that betrayed the other, I can say it emphatically that Peter Obi betrayed me.

“The Julius Abure-led LP members lied to Obi that the Independent National Electoral Commission had accepted them and Obi surreptitiously went back to them but I told him: ‘Sir, you have made a public statement on integrity and even if INEC has accepted them, that is not a criterion for you to go back and start dealing with them because they have shown that they are not democratic. If you go back to them, they will destroy your political career and everything you have said about integrity will die.’”

He said that despite privately urging Obi not to align with a group he described as “undemocratic” and “agents of the government,” Okonkwo said Obi went ahead to publicly endorse them.

“I told Obi that these people had become agents in the hands of the government to destabilise him. What they did was absolutely illegal and unconstitutional, I told him that if he went back to them, I wouldn’t join him in doing so.

“Thereafter, I called all the people that were in the inner circle and told them the same thing about what Obi was trying to do. I told them he wanted to go back with the Abure people and if he did, I wouldn’t go back with him because I do not swallow back my words.

“And after saying all those things, within like 72 hours, Obi went back to Abure’s office to publicly endorse them and while he was there talking to them, one of the leaders in that executive sent me the video to mock me that the person I was fighting for against them has come to their office to endorse them.

“It was when INEC dissociated itself from Abure that Obi came out to start acting neutral but I told him he could not be neutral and something had to be done,” he added.

The Labour Party has been embroiled in a prolonged leadership crisis, with opposing factions laying claim to the party’s national structure.

The Abure-led faction has faced allegations of financial mismanagement and anti-democratic practices, which critics say contradict the party’s reformist image.

Okonkwo, a known loyalist of Obi’s political ideology, cited these irregularities as his reason for quitting the party earlier in the year.

Watch video below:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1933867577651925202https://twitter.com/i/status/1933867577651925202

Politics

Amaechi Slams Tinubu’s Policies In Fresh Outburst

Published

4 days ago

June 12, 2025

Editor

Former Minister of Transportation and two-time governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, has asked the coalition opposition to kick President Bola Tinubu out of office if Nigeria is to escape its deepening economic crisis.

In a no-holds-barred interview with the BBC, Amaechi, a founding member and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, lamented the country’s deteriorating condition and signalled his willingness to help forge a new opposition coalition to rescue the nation.

“People are dying. People are starving. I myself am feeling the effects of hunger,” he said, painting a grim picture of life under the current administration.

Amaechi’s statement comes in the wake of the APC’s recent endorsement of Tinubu as its sole presidential candidate for 2027, a move Amaechi openly questioned.

While reiterating his loyalty to the party, he warned that fidelity to a political platform should never come at the cost of national conscience.

“If the government is failing the country, you don’t just go along because you’re in the same party. You know that’s not right,” he stated emphatically.

Though he stopped short of confirming a 2027 presidential bid, the former minister said the option remained on the table.

“Certainly, I believe I can make a meaningful contribution,” he added, hinting that his political journey may not yet be over.

He spoke of widespread poverty, spiralling food insecurity, and daily tragedies that now dot the national landscape.

Reflecting on his years as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Amaechi lamented that the number of out-of-school children then pegged at 10 million, had since ballooned.

The economic hardship, he said, had also deepened insecurity.

“The Boko Haram insurgency is not just a religious crisis. Many of those involved are driven by desperation and hunger,” he asserted, linking terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping to a broader socioeconomic collapse.

Amaechi’s declaration added momentum to an emerging political realignment.

Talks were already underway among key opposition figures, including Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, as they explored the possibility of a unified front against Tinubu in 2027.

Even ex-Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and once a key Tinubu ally had signalled interest in backing an opposition alliance.

But as opposition forces stir, the ruling party continues to absorb defectors, prompting fears of Nigeria drifting toward a one-party state, a scenario Amaechi warned could undermine democracy and silence dissent.

“We’re thinking that if we come together and win the election, the country will certainly witness change,” he said, suggesting an urgent need for a credible alternative.

Politics

UNN Best Graduate Wins £33,000 Com

Published

4 days ago

June 12, 2025

Editor

A student of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka’s with the overall best graduating CGPA of 4.98, Chizoba Ejiofor, has secured a fully funded Commonwealth scholarship.

Education advocate and tech entrepreneur Alex Onyia, who made this known on social media on Thursday, said he had taken responsibility for supporting Ejiofor after the university failed to award him the promised N50,000 prize for academic excellence.

“I have a good news. A very good news. You remember Chizoba Ejiofor, who graduated as UNN overall best graduating student with CGPA of 4.98, that UNN refused to fulfill the N50k price promised to him?

“I took him up as a full responsibility. We started working tirelessly together since last year to secure a fully funded scholarship, and today we have the good news,” Onyia wrote.

Onyia revealed that Ejiofor was awarded a fully funded Commonwealth scholarship, valued at over £33,000. The package includes tuition, flight tickets, and monthly stipends.

“This is fully funded scholarship from Commonwealth. Over 33 thousand pounds in scholarship, flight tickets and monthly stipends inclusive. No one can describe how happy and fulfilled I am today,” he added.