The National Chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, has told former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that he will not use his position to skew the outcome of the presidential primary election of the party in his favour.<\/p>\n
Ayu made this known on Thursday while Addressing members of the National Working Committee, (NWC) and the campaign team of the former Vice President.<\/p>\n
Atiku and Ayu are longtime associates and old friends whose relationship dates back to the truncated third republic \u2014 three decades ago.<\/p>\n
Speaking after a visit to the party’s Secretariat in Abuja, Ayu said he would not work for Atiku as an aspirant.<\/p>\n
He added that Atiku will have to put in the shift and convince delegates to vote for him in order to emerge the party’s presidential candidate in next year’s election.<\/p>\n
He said\u00a0 \u201cLet me acknowledge the fact that you and I have been close friends personal friends for more than 30 years as it was indicated, we were key players in the Social Democratic Party and key players in the emergence of Chief MKO Abiola.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you are a presidential aspirant today. But I want people to know that you are still my friend. I can\u2019t deny you I never deny my friends including those who are in the other disastrous party. You know them because even there we have common friends who miss road, who normally should be here with us.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore importantly, since we formed this party as you have mentioned, we have worked together in various capacities. It is you and I that plotted the emergence of President Obasanjo. An administration that did very well, putting Nigeria, on a healthy map economically, socially and politically.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, I can\u2019t deny the fact that we work together harmoniously, whether political issues or economic issues and on the National Security Council when I was Minister for internal affairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m saying this to make it clear that those who say Oh, because of my personal relationship with you, as chairman, I\u2019ll work for you. Mr. Vice President, I will not work for you as an aspirant. I will work for all the 17 aspirants. It is left to you to convince the delegates of our party that you are the best.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to market yourself, you have to work hard. This National Working Committee for now we remain an umpire. We are not going to take side with any particular aspirants. But we love you all. I\u2019ve said repeatedly that each one of you given the opportunity will run this country better than what APC has done or will be able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The National Chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, has told former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that he will not use his position to skew the outcome of the presidential primary election of the party in his favour. Ayu made this known on Thursday while Addressing members of the National Working […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":119683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1826,1029,27804,112],"class_list":["post-183632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-2023-presidency","tag-atiku","tag-ayu","tag-pdp"],"yoast_head":"\n