By Dennis Deji

The call for the removal of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu reverberates as the former Deputy National Chairman of the Party, Olabode George, has insisted that a southern candidate must replace Ayu as the national chairman of the party before the beginning of the 2023 election campaigns scheduled for September 28, 2022.

George said that Ayu, who is from the northern part of the country, could not continue to hold the position since the presidential candidate of the party is from the North.

Speaking at a Press Conference in Lagos on Thursday, George said Ayu’s refusal to fulfil his promise meant that members of the party in the south were of no importance.

He said, “ Let me reiterate again that the will of the people must be respected and the six top offices in the country must be distributed equitably and fairly because PDP is not a private company. The office of the National Chairman must come to the South before we commence the presidential campaign if victory is to be secured in the next general election.

“In May this year, we elected our presidential candidate in the person of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, setting aside the principle of rotation as enshrined in the constitution of our party in the interest of peace and unity of our party. Today, we are in a situation in which our National Chairman is from the same zone as our presidential candidate.

Some people are insisting that there is nothing wrong with this present arrangement. Some have argued that this happened during Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, where the candidate and the national chairman were from the same zone.

It would be recalled that during the South West Meeting with the PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde made it clear that the South wants Ayu to resign his position as the National Chairman of the Party before the 2023 General Elections campaign begins at the end of September.