Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Iyorchia Ayu, refused to resign his position because of billions of naira in the party’s coffers.

Wike stated that Ayu’s actions and utterances may cause the party to lose the 2023 presidential election.

The governor said this in reaction to Ayu’s recent remarks on calls for his resignation.

Ayu, in an interview with BBC Hausa on Wednesday, said those demanding his resignation are children.

However, Wike, while speaking on Thursday at the inauguration of roads in Ikwerre LGA of Rivers State, said those who Ayu described as children brought him from nothing to be chairman of the party.

He said: “I thought as a chairman of a party who wants to win elections, your business is to bring peace to your party; your business is not to divide your party. Your business is not to show arrogance to your party.

“Yes, the children brought you to be chairman of the party. The children brought you from the gutter to make you chairman.

“Ayu, you were impeached as Senate President. Ayu, you were sacked by Obasanjo in his administration. Arrogance cannot take you anywhere.

“Now, we have seen that you don’t want the party to win the election. We will help you.

READ ALSO: Ayu: Wike, others were children when we formed PDP

“These children — these people you call boys — brought you from nothing.

“You can imagine what power can do. You can imagine how ingratitude — how people can be ingrates in their lives,” Wike stated.

The governor added that if Ayu remains arrogant and refuse to resign, it may cost the PDP the 2023 presidential election.

The Star recalls that Wike and his associates had demanded the resignation of Ayu as a condition for them to campaign for the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, ahead of the 2023 general election.

They insisted that Ayu must resign his position, adding that they should be allowed to choose his successor.

The governor and his loyalists said all top positions in the PDP are being occupied by northerners, noting that Ayu, who is from the North-Central must resign as a concession to the South.

The Star