I don’t steal, NWC agreed on allowance – Ayu

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, on Friday broke his silence on the controversies surrounding the return of over N100m housing allowance to the party’s coffers by some National Working Committee members.

He said the NWC unanimously agreed on the allowance and that reports that the money was a bribe or an illegal payment as being alleged by some persons were false.

In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Simon Imobo-Tswam, Ayu said his mission was to return the party to power and that he wasn’t after the finances of the party. He spoke while welcoming the Forum of Elected Ex-Officio Members of the party who paid him a solidarity visit at the party’s headquarters.

He said, “The NWC met and discussed the issue of Housing Allowance. It was unanimously agreed that no bribe or any form of illegality took place. A statement has since been issued to that effect. The matter has now been laid to rest.

“The PDP was not founded to be in opposition. We founded the party to access power and develop the country and my historic task is to return the party to power. I won’t be chairman forever. For now, my preoccupation is to return the party to power. I did not come to steal. My public service record is there.

“I have been a leader of the National Assembly. I have been a minister many times. As a person, I have many faults, but stealing is not one of them. I am conscious of my place in history, and the NWC that I lead is guided by the twin-principles of transparency and accountability.”

The chairman said he deliberately didn’t respond to things said about him in the media because his focus was on winning the 2023 general elections.

Ayu added, “You may be reading many things and expecting my reaction. If we don’t always talk, it is because we want to maintain and build cohesion in the party. We don’t want continuous altercations in the PDP family. Our eyes are on the big picture, which is winning the 2023 general elections.

“Therefore, let us not lose focus. Let us keep our eyes glued to the big picture. Everything else is secondary. We took office because there was a crisis in the party and we don’t want to keep moving from crisis to crisis. It’s not good for the party. We can’t be in perpetual crisis, especially where the crisis is artificial.”

Speaking on the party’s finances, Ayu stated that he had instructed the Finance Department to maintain and update the party’s statement of income and expenditure for presentation to the party’s National Executive Committee at the first-year anniversary of the present NWC in December.

He said although he has many faults as a human being, stealing was not one of them, adding that the present NWC was being guided by the principles of transparency and accountability.

The Chairman of the Forum, Yunana Iliya, said the members were at the party secretariat to express their solidarity with the national chairman and pledge their loyalty to his leadership.

“We stand by the recent vote of confidence passed on you by the highest decision-making body of the party, the National Executive Committee, and we urge all party faithful to close ranks in PDP’s rescue work,” he added.

‘Resign or beg’

Meanwhile, the Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, on Friday asked Ayu to either resign his position or drop his ego and beg if he wants to retain his position.

He said the party chairman promised to quit if a northerner emerged as the party’s presidential candidate, but that he had reneged on the promise.

In his opening remarks during an emergency executive council meeting at the Government House in Makurdi, the state capital, Ortom said, “I have offered two options; it’s either you resign or plead and beg people to understand you as the national chairman.

“You said it yourself; nobody compelled you. This is my position. The national chairman told the whole world that he would resign if a northern candidate emerged. But today, a northern candidate emerged, so the question I’m asking is, where is your integrity if you don’t resign?

“But there are many ways of doing it; if you plead or beg, if you seek the understanding of people to accept you the way you are so that we win (the election). You have the honour to convince them, not to say your tenure is four years and so you cannot resign.”

Ortom and Ayu hail from the same senatorial district, Benue North West. It is believed that Ortom was instrumental to the emergence of Ayu as the national chairman.

The governor expressed optimism that despite the party’s internal crisis, the PDP remained the party to beat in the forthcoming general elections given the poor performance of the governing All Progressives Congress.

Keyamo, Melaye disagree

One of the spokespersons for the PDP presidential campaign organisation, Dino Melaye, in a statement on Friday asked Nigerians to critically examine the conduct and character of the people and parties seeking to lead the country in 2023.

In a statement on Friday, he said the APC wasn’t ready for governance.

He added, “It is becoming increasingly apparent that the All Progressives Congress is neither ready for election nor structured to govern, though its members are desperate to retain power. Sadly, the undiscerning is oblivious of the usual media hypnotism that the APC engages to confuse and mesmerise the unwary.

“As an indication of the unpreparedness of the APC to lead Nigeria, the party in its nearly 10 years of existence has no Board of Trustees, which is usually referred to as the soul or the conscience of the party.

“Without a soul the party has remained rudderless, floundering, reactive and retrogressive. Before Ahmed Tinubu emerged as the flagbearer of the party against the run of play, he had in his usual entitled fashion been addressed as the leader of the party. However, neither he nor any other was good enough to lead the BoT, so the structure has remained sterilised.”

He said the controversies surrounding the party’s campaign council were another indication that the APC wasn’t prepared for governance.

He added, “Further to these indices, the candidate of the APC appears not to be ready. You will recall that he was not available at the signing of the Peace Accord by political parties.

“He has also been rolling from one controversy to another. When it is not about his origin, it is about his age. When it is not about his academic qualification it is about his physical or physiological qualification. Something has to be invented every time to fill a gap. The latest invention was a recourse to an old fitness video to certify the health of a contender for the presidency of Nigeria. The presidency of Nigeria is neither a cycling competition nor a track event.”

But in his response, the spokesperson for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo (SAN), knocked the National Chairman of the PDP, whom he said had ‘shamelessly’ dodged the corruption allegation levelled against him by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.

While describing the opposition party as a leopard that could not change its spot, he scolded Melaye for having the temerity to challenge the ruling party.

The statement partly read, “Our attention has been drawn to a statement by the PDP Campaign Council alleging that the APC is not ready to govern Nigeria.

“This most outlandish statement, coming from the PDP at a time it has become the theatre of the most absurd in this country, is most ironic and unfortunate.

“Firstly, in the past few weeks, the PDP has entertained Nigerians with scandalous issues that showed that the party remains a clear and present danger or threat to Nigeria’s treasury and equity.

“In the last few days, the public space has been inundated with allegations made by no less a person than a prominent governor of the PDP accusing its national chairman of being patently corrupt and of (allegedly) collecting a bribe of N1bn from one of its candidates.

“The governor even threatened to ‘reveal more’ if there was a denial. The party chairman, Ayu, is yet to deny or debunk this allegation for fear of being stripped totally bare in public. Is this the party that claims it is ready for governance and that Nigerians can trust? A party without any iota of shame?

Keyamo, who is the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, stated that the country had yet to recover from the trauma the PDP inflicted on the people.

He added, “Our party, the APC, has shown its commitment to be fair to all regions in the country. Whilst the PDP was breaching its own constitution on power rotation and fairness, the APC governors rose above primordial sentiments and rejected a move to zone the APC presidential ticket to the North, insisting that power must shift to the South after President Muhammadu  Buhari’s tenure.

“This is a party that believes in fairness and equity and all Nigerians can attest to that.

“Our presidential candidate has a track record. He has held executive office; he has pioneered transformational changes. As at today, the IGR in Lagos has grown by 7.400 per cent from 1999 to 2021. This is one of the relevant issues that should animate public conversation at this moment; not the cacophony of sounds and fury from the PDP that signifies nothing.”

(Punch)