Resign Or Beg For Pardon, Ortom Tells Ayu

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has joined calls for the removal of the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Iyorchia Ayu, urging the former senator to resign or plead for understanding and pardon.
Ortom said this during the Executive Council meeting in Government House, Makurdi, the Benue State capital, last Saturday.
The governor, who is an ally of Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, had last month said he agreed with Wike on issues of injustice.
Wike, who lost the party’s presidential primaries to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in May, and a few other governors, have since been calling for the removal of Ayu as a concession for the South.
He maintained that it was injustice for northerners to hold the two major positions of the party.
The governor and his allies had demanded the resignation of Ayu as a condition for them to campaign for Atiku ahead of the 2023 general election.
Speaking, Ortom said Ayu promised to resign if a northern candidate emerged as the PDP presidential standard-bearer, saying the party’s chairman should honour his words now that the party has a northern presidential candidate.
“Ayu told the whole world that if a northern candidate emerges, he will resign. So, where is the honour now to continue in office?
“If you don’t want to resign, beg for pardon. But it is not enough to say your tenure is four years, and you won’t resign, as you said it yourself,” the governor said.