Nyesom Wike has accused the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Iyorchia Ayu of collecting N100m from a governor.
The Rivers State governor made the allegation during a media chat on Friday in Port Harcourt where he also threatened to reveal more “if pushed to the wall”.
“Let me also tell you, Ayu collected N100m from a governor,” he claimed, stressing that the PDP chieftain cannot deny the allegation.
“I am telling you of a governor. Let him (Ayu) say no that it was not true and I will tell you the governor. These are things people don’t know,” Wike added.
“If not for the love of this party, if we release what we have, Ayu’s children will tell him that ‘You are no longer our daddy’”.
According to Wike, he is not afraid of the party’s chairman, saying Ayu cannot influence the people of Rivers State on whom to vote for in next year’s general election.
“He does not have the capacity to do that,” he said. “So, why I am going to be afraid of him?”
Wike maintained that Ayu should resign his position as the chairman of the PDP, claiming the party chieftain made the pledge that he would do so if the presidential candidate comes from the north (same region as Ayu).
“We have not done primary and a man came out and said if the presidential candidate comes from my region, I will leave. Honour it. It is integrity and part of the hallmark of leadership,” he noted.
“If he cannot do that, how can you tell Nigerians that anything the PDP tells you, we would do it?”
Wike’s remark is the latest in the crisis that has rocked the PDP following the party’s presidential primary. The governor lost to Atiku Abubakar but claimed the exercise was unfair.
He was touted to become the former vice president’s running mate but Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State was picked instead, a development that further deepened the conflict.
Efforts so far to resolve the conflict have yielded little results as Wike insists that Ayu and Atiku – both from the northern region – cannot occupy the party’s two topmost positions. He and his allies are calling for Ayu’s resignation as part of their demands to sheathe their sword.