Ayu: PDP back to winning ways — we hope APC continues to disintegrate

Iyorchia Ayu, national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says the opposition party is “back to winning ways”.

Speaking on Monday night at the national caucus meeting of the party held in Abuja, Ayu said since it came on board, the national working committee (NWC) headed by him has tackled the challenges in the PDP.

The PDP national chairman said the victory of the party in the recent by-elections shows the party is on course and “moving very smoothly”.

“The interesting thing is the unity that is developing in our party, the very strong harmony that we are trying to build in the party,” he said.

“One of our mission is to ensure that we revive all the statutory organs of the party. This is to bring party leaders together to have a close working relationship and try and resolve whatever problems we have in the house.

“I am happy to say we start with the national caucus meeting, which will be followed by the BoT meeting and then the NEC meeting. Very serious issues will be discussed in the interest of our party.

“I am happy to say that since we came in, in spite of the challenges we face in different areas, which of course in a big political party of this nature it is normal to have challenges. But I am happy to report to all of you that we have managed these challenges well. We overcome so many difficulties, and I am happy to say that the party is moving very smoothly forward.

“We produce candidates in Ekiti and Osun in spite of the challenges with the support of all arms of the party. The governors, the national assembly, the national working committee and other members of the party.

“We did very well in the recent elections. In other ways, the party is back to winning ways.

“In Ebonyi, the court made a pronouncement and that very day we fielded a governor and a deputy governor. We are calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue them certificates of return so that they will be sworn in. INEC’s delay is totally unacceptable.

While taking a swipe at the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ayu said the ruling party is a “contraction” and will continue to crumble.

“As the electoral act was signed and INEC came up with their own timetable, NWC has been working round the clock because there are timelines that we must make sure that we keep,” he said.

“I believe the other party doesn’t exist because there are two to three chairmen, we don’t even know who among them will sign any document that they will submit to INEC.

“But in our case, we are very much on course and this meeting is for us to look at our own timetable and guidelines. We are determined that we will keep strictly to the guideline despite the short time that is available to us.

“We hope that the other party will continue to disintegrate. We have always told Nigerians that APC is a contraction and not a political party. We believe sincerely that Nigerians are waiting for PDP to give us victory so that we will correct the damages APC has done to this country.”

The PDP national chairman added that the party will win most seats in the national assembly and also produce the next president in 2023.