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

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Peoples Democratic Party National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, on Friday broke his silence about the controversy surrounding a N100m housing allowance returned to the party’s coffers by some members of the National Working Committee.

It has been reported by some that the allowance was a bribe or an illegal payment, but the NWC unanimously agreed on it.

According to his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Simon Imobo-Tswam, Ayu’s mission is to restore power to the party, not to steal its finances. At the party headquarters, he welcomed the Forum of Elected Ex-Officio Members who had paid him a solidarity visit.

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.”

Because he was focused on winning the general elections in 2023, he didn’t respond to things said about him in the media.

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.”

In his remarks about the party’s finances, Ayu said that his Finance Department had been instructed to prepare and update the party’s income and expenditure statement for presentation in December to its National Executive Committee, which marks the first anniversary of the current NWC.

Although he had many faults as a human being, stealing was not one of them. According to him, the present NWC was governed by the principles of transparency and accountability.

Yunana Iliya, chairman of the Forum, explained that members were at the party secretariat to express their loyalty to the national chairman.

“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’

According to the governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, if Ayu wishes to retain his position, either he should resign or drop his ego and beg for it.

The party chairman had reneged on a promise to quit if a northerner won the party’s presidential nomination.

Ortom said during an emergency executive council meeting in Makurdi, the state capital, “I have offered two options; 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 are from the same senatorial district, Benue North West. It is believed Ortom played an important role in Ayu’s election as national chairman.

Due to the poor performance of the ruling All Progressives Congress, the governor expressed optimism that the PDP would still be the party to beat in the forthcoming general elections despite the party’s internal crisis.

Keyamo, Melaye disagree

Dino Melaye, the spokesperson for the PDP presidential campaign organisation, asked Nigerians on Friday to critically examine the conduct and character of those seeking the presidency 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 are oblivious to the usual media hypnotism that the APC engages in 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.”

Another indicator that the APC was unprepared for governance was the controversies surrounding its campaign council.

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 leveled 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 of today, the IGR in Lagos has grown by 7.400 percent 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.”

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