I took legal action against Ayu to save PDP

A Peoples Democratic Party Chairmanship hopeful, Terhile Utaan, on Wednesday, said that dragging the former national chairman of the party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, to court was a great sacrifice to save the party.

Speaking to journalists after he consulted with leaders of PDP from the Tiv ethnic group under the auspices of G14, Utaan explained that the party was in total confusion when the Ijorov council ward claimed to have suspended Ayu.

He said, “I did not remove Dr Iyorchia Ayu. You all know there was a lot of confusion when he was suspended by his Ijorov council ward because he said he was not removed and the ward chairman said he was removed.

“It was in the light of this confusion that I went to court to seek interpretation of what the constitution of PDP says. So, what I did was courageous and it was an intervention to save the soul of the party.

“My going to court was a sacrifice to salvage PDP.”

Utaan stated that his agenda was to unite the party to be able to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressive Congress.

“I am coming out to provide intervention to the party and if I emerge my immediate task is to unify the party because the party has lost its soul.

“We must return power to the people and we can only do that if we unify the party and bring our leaders back to the table,” he said.

Leader of the G14, Laha Dzever said that Utaan had come to consult the party leadership in the Tiv 14 local government areas of the state about his aspiration.

Dzever said as leaders and elders they had informed him of the great task ahead of him if he becomes the national chairman of the party, parts of this is to rebuild the party because the party is fragmented and ensure that the party gets back to power.

Recall that the opposition PDP was engulfed in an internal crisis shortly after the party presidential primary in 2023 that produced Atiku Abubakar.

The G5 governors led by Nyesom Wike had asserted that North could not produce a presidential candidate and also have a party national chairman and insisted that the party national chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu must step down.