Ayu spoke out of abundance of heart, says Wike
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike had a fresh dig at the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Dr. Iyorchia Ayu yesterday following an apparent gaffe by the PDP leader that the party “has brought shame to Nigeria.”
Wike said the Ayu statement was not a slip of the tongue but an authentic remark from the abundance of his heart.
The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC PCC) shared Wike’s view, saying Ayu’s statement was a confirmation of the reality.
“PDP has brought us shame,” Ayu had said at a rally in Kano before quickly correcting himself and saying “APC”.
However, reacting to the development at a PDP rally at Eleme, Rivers State yesterday, Wike said by speaking the truth about the condition of the PDP at the centre, Ayu had engaged in an unpardonable height of anti-party campaign against the party.
He said: “When you see undertakers, you will know those who came to kill this party. But the party will not die; they will die first.
“I didn’t know they are wicked to this party, no wonder they left this party and joined ACN before.
“He (Ayu) said they will not allow PDP to be in power. Is that a good chairman? It that not anti-party? Is the chairman not doing anti-party?
“Out of the abundance of the heart the month speaks. For us in Rivers State, our own party is a good party. Our own is a party that has done Rivers State well.”
Wike also spoke about the poor implementation of naira redesign policy implementation and the socio-economic hardship it is causing the people.
The governor described those supporting the poor implementation of the naira redesign policy as enemies of the people and the country.
Wike wondered why the national leadership of the PDP, an opposition party that should always side with the people in the quest to return to power at the federal government level, would support such an “anti-people policy.”
He said that the PDP in Rivers State would always side with the Nigerian masses because it could not identify and support a policy that had been implemented to aggravate the suffering of the people.
He said: “This is supposed to be an opposition party, is it not? A party that is supposed to identify with the masses. This is a party that is saying the ruling party is not doing well.
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“Is it not? It means that anything that affects the masses we must be in support of the masses. Are you happy that you have money in the bank and you can’t get your money? Will you be happy? Are you happy?
“Since the Central Bank came with this madness, is it not affecting you? But you see my problem, instead of our party to identify with the masses, the leadership of party at the national level is now saying they are happy with what the Central Bank is doing. Is that good?
“Instead of us to identify with the masses who are suffering, you’re saying that you are happy with the policy that the Central Bank and the cabal brought that is making us to suffer. You’re saying that it is good. We in Rivers State we will not support it.”
Wike asked the people to vote for Sir Siminialayi Fubara as the next governor of Rivers State and all PDP candidates.
He said the forthcoming election would be the freest in the history of elections in the country.
“This is because it will be about the people using their permanent voter cards to determine their true political representatives,” he said.
PDP has truly brought shame to Nigeria -APC PCC
Also reacting to the Ayu statement yesterday, the APC Presidential Campaign Council said it was not just a mere slip of the tongue but a confirmation of the reality.
The APC PCC Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, said in Abuja that Ayu was reflecting inner guilt about the grave damage his party inflicted on the country for 16 years.
According to Onanuga, Ayu’s verdict on his party should not be seen as a mere slip of the tongue but “an articulation of the inner mind of the former academic and senate president, a self-admission of the egregious failures of the party when it was in charge of our country for 16 years.”
He added: “PDP has brought us shame and we will not retain them in power.”
Continuing, he said: “One of the recent reminders of the failure of the umbrella party was the Ajaokuta Steel Complex.
“The party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar as head of the Obasanjo era privatisation programme, granted Global Steel a concession in 2004 to take over the company.
“Another PDP government cancelled the concession when it found out that it was a mess. Global Steel took the Nigerian government to court and demanded $7 billion compensation, even though it failed to fulfill the terms of the concession by making Ajaokuta a reality.
“The case lingered for 12 years until the APC administration of President Muhammadu Buhari stepped in. Global Steel agreed to end its legal battle and walk away with $496 million of Nigeria’s money.
Ayu spoke out of abundance of heart, says Wike
