A group of Peoples Democratic Party members known as PDP National Rebirth Movement has demanded that the sacked National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Iyorchia Ayu should refund the funds the party realized from the sale of nomination forms before the 2023 elections which were allegedly misappropriated under his leadership.
In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Hon. Musa Abdallah and the National Secretary, Comrade Matthew Adams, the group accused Ayu and the 2023 PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar of causing the loss of the party during last year’s polls owing to their arrogance, pride, divisive tactics, high-handedness, lack of transparency and disregard for other leaders of the party.
The statement read:
“As concerned members of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), we find it necessary to demand restitution from the sacked National Chairman of the party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu who on the eve of the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, went and withdrew his appeal from the court hoping that his action would give the Atiku Abubakar camp the leeway to install former Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam as the new National Chairman.
“The decision of Ayu to withdraw the suit after a year in court is also being interpreted to be an offshoot of a plot by the Atiku Abubakar camp to take over the affairs of PDP ahead of the 2027 presidential election which Atiku plans to contest again. The serial contestant!
“Ayu and Atiku were the main architects of PDP’s loss in the 2023 elections. His arrogance, pride, divisive tactics, high-handedness and lack of respect for other leaders of the party led to all the problems that the party faced before and during the election.
“Ayu felt that he and Atiku were the sole owners of PDP and could do anything they wanted. Their poor handling of the aftermath of the party’s National Convention which forced five Governors (G-5 whom he described as “children) to refuse to work for the party, coupled with their wrong choice of Atiku’s running mate Okowa and Ayu’s refusal to resign even after he had already promised to do so if a presidential candidate emerged from the north, worked against our party more than any other factor.
“Ayu’s case was that of promise not kept, failure to leave the stage when the ovation was loudest, unguided political statements and war of political relevance. These, and other factors were the steps through which he took his descent as the national chairman of our great party. He was his own Achilles heel.
“After he and Atiku had maneuvered the national convention and Atiku “emerged”, Ayu visited Aminu Tambuwal, Governor of Sokoto State and hailed him as the “hero of the convention”. That move shocked everyone.
“Iyorchia Ayu who was not paying party dues was rightly suspended by his Igyorov ward in Gboko local government and today he is gone never to return!
“But Ayu cannot go away with our party funds! PDP realized more than N10 billion from only the sale of nomination forms and party members also made donations to enable it go into the elections successfully. But a few days later, there were reports that the N10 billion had been depleted heavily. Ayu was accused of paying money into the accounts of members of the PDP National Working Committee. The report claimed that Ayu in a bid to pacify the NWC members paid the sum of N28m to each of the members.
“The embarrassing situation made some members of the party’s NWC write to the national chairman Ayu informing him of their decision to return the housing allowance paid into their accounts from the party’s coffers.
“Ayu was also accused of collecting the sum of N1bn from an unnamed presidential candidate in Lagos.
“The 2023 elections came and after our party lost, no thanks to Ayu and Atiku, we are yet to get any explanation from the sacked chairman. He simply went and withdrew his appeal and thought that would be the end?
“We won’t let Ayu run to meet his friend Atiku in Dubai and wait for the next round of elections as is the former Vice President’s character.
“We demand that Senator Ayu should return the nomination forms money to the coffers of the party to enable the current leadership to have a smooth administration.
“We understand that within that short period that he was the national chairman, he embarked on several personal projects including the building of a private university in Benue State and a number of other gigantic structures with the source of the funds not clear.
“We are not concerned about Ayu’s personal life. We are concerned about the resources of our great party which he mismanaged while he was the party national chairman.
“We are giving Senator Iyorchia Ayu two weeks to return the party resources at his disposal or face litigation”, the group threatened.
