Ayu: I didn’t come to steal as PDP chair

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Iyorchia Ayu, has debunked the reports that he paid over N100 million to some members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) as a bribe, saying “I did not come to steal”.

It would be recalled that some members of the PDP NWC returned N122.4 million paid into their accounts by the main opposition party.

It was alleged that the money Ayu paid to the NWC members after the PDP primaries was from the over N10 billion realised by the party from nomination fees paid by aspirants.

However, speaking on the allegation via a statement issued on Friday his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Simon Imobo-Tswam, Ayu said the PDP NWC members agreed on the allowance, noting that the money was not a bribe or an illegal payment.

The PDP chairman, who spoke when the Forum of Elected Ex-Officio Members of the party paid him a visit on Friday, stated that his task was to return the party to power in 2023.

Ayu said: “The NWC met and discussed the issue of Housing Allowance. It was unanimously agreed that no bribe or any form of illegality took place. A statement has since been issued to that effect. The matter has now been laid to rest.

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“The PDP was not founded to be in opposition. We founded the party to access power and develop the country and my historic task is to return the party to power. I won’t be chairman forever. For now, my preoccupation is to return the party to power. I did not come to steal. My public service record is there.

“I have been a leader of the National Assembly. I have been a minister many times. As a person, I have many faults, but stealing is not one of them. I am conscious of my place in history, and the NWC that I lead is guided by the twin-principles of transparency and accountability,” he stated.

Ayu added that he didn’t respond to allegations leveled against him because his focus was on winning the 2023 general election.

“You may be reading many things and expecting my reaction. If we don’t always talk, it is because we want to maintain and build cohesion in the party. We don’t want continuous altercations in the PDP family. Our eyes are on the big picture, which is winning the 2023 general election.

“Therefore, let us not lose focus. Let us keep our eyes glued to the big picture. Everything else is secondary. We took office because there was a crisis in the party and we don’t want to keep moving from crisis to crisis. It’s not good for the party. We can’t be in perpetual crisis, especially where the crisis is artificial” the PDP chairman added.

Ayu further stated that he had instructed the Finance Department to maintain and update the party’s statement of income and expenditure for presentation to the party’s National Executive Committee at the first-year anniversary of the present NWC in December.

The Star