The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, will defend its decision to back the embattled National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu on Thursday.
The PDP’s Board of Trustees (BoT) and the National Executive Committee (NEC) will meet on that day to resolve the growing crisis.
They will decide whether Ayu should remain in office in the face of the crisis sparked by his refusal to step down following the emergence of Atiku as the party’s flag bearer.
Ayu had promised shortly before he was picked unopposed at the party’s national convention in Abuja last October to resign in the event of another northerner becoming PDP’s presidential candidate.
His exit is the principal demand of Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and his supporters for peace to reign in the party.
It was gathered yesterday that stakeholders of the party, worried by the festering crisis and the threat it poses to its cohesion ahead of the coming elections, have decided to take the bull by the horn and take a firm decision on the propriety of keeping Ayu on the job.
The Thursday meeting will be preceded on Wednesday by that of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) and the National Caucus.
Although the source declined to disclose the agenda of the meetings, it was gathered that the call for Ayu’s resignation would be discussed.
