- Hands Over PDP Affairs to Deputy Chair
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is currently enmeshed in a fresh crisis as its national Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu has reportedly been flown abroad for medical treatment.
Ayu, some party sources disclosed to The New Diplomat, is suffering from an undisclosed ailment which necessitated his decision to travel abroad for urgent treatment.
This was further fuelled by his conspicuous absence at the inauguration of the PDP National Campaign Council for the July 16 Osun gubernatorial election. In his absence, Umar Iliya Damagun, the party’s Deputy National Chairman (North) inaugurated the council.
“The national chairman is ill and is currently abroad receiving treatment for an undisclosed ailment. However, he handed over appropriately to his deputy who has been operating in an acting capacity, so, there is no vacuum” a source disclosed to The New Diplomat.
Another source however confided in The New Diplomat that Ayu may have quietly been eased out of office on health grounds.
“He cannot hold the party together in the midst of his health challenge. This was the more reason the deputy(North) had to step in, in the meantime”, a source hinted The New Diplomat.
This development is coming amid reports of the return of a staggering N405 million, which Ayu was accused of fraudulently receiving from the immediate past National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki(Rtd)
According to one report by Premuim Times, Ayu reportedly returned the money in two instalments shortly before he was elected PDP chairman in October 2021.He reportedly paid with cheques drawn in favour of the federal government of Nigeria.
The funds, described by a source as “ill-gotten N405Million,” was recovered by a presidential panel set up by the Buhari administration to investigate alleged illicit transfer of public security funds to politicians and other individuals by Col Dasuki during the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
According to the report, the panel investigating and recovering the diverted funds is currently operating from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
More details revealed that when Senator Ayu delayed refunding the fund, a mansion said to be his in Abuja was confiscated. Sources however maintain that the property was returned to him after he paid up the whopping sum of N495M.
It would be recalled that Col Dasuki, alongside an erstwhile Director of Finance at the ONSA, Shuaibu Salisu, were in 2015 accused of fraud and money laundering by the Buhari administration.
The duo of Dasuki and Salisu were accused of criminal breach of trust for allegedly transferring the sum of N350 million from the CBN account of the NSA to the account of a Starbriid Limited with Stanbic IBTC Bank and GTB. The accounts were allegedly controlled by one Emmanuel Lawani on behalf of Senator Iyorchia Ayu, for the construction of a shopping mall at Jabi, Abuja.
However, the accused were said to have disguised the payment as being for satellite charges and security equipment, in what investigators described as breaching Nigeria’s penal code.
It was after the initial accusation in 2015 that the investigative panel discovered that Senator Ayu reportedly received more than N350 million from Col Dasuki’s office without offering any service to the government, our sources said.
Starbriid Limited, the company allegedly used to receive the funds, was incorporated by Senator Ayu in 1996 to reportedly engage in the business of general contracts and merchandise, among others. He, his son, Shima Ayu and one Bula Isaac are directors and shareholders of the company said to be based in Jos, the Plateau State capital.
The source, according to the report, further disclosed that the opposition party does not want the controversies that surrounded the ill-gotten fund going into the election year hence underground moves by the party to ease out Ayu from his position of National Chairman.
It would be recalled that the social media was awash with reports that Ayu has been kicked out as the Chairman of the party earlier today.
The report has been met with stoic silence from the party hierarchy lending credence that there is no smoke without fire.
Meanwhile, the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the PDP has also been reportedly putting fresh pressure on Ayu to resign.
Some stakeholders of the party demanding his resignation disclosed that based on the PDP’s zoning arrangement, both the national chairman and the presidential candidate cannot come from the same zone.
It has emerged that during the meetings with PDP governors that led to his selection as national chairman, Ayu was made to sign an undertaking that if the presidential candidate emerges from the North, he would resign his position to pave way for a new national chairman from the South.
A former minister from the South-South, who is leading the agitation for Ayu’s resignation in an earlier interview disclosed that his group will begin moves to ensure that Ayu honours the agreement and resigns.
“We have written a letter to the national chairman yesterday reminding him of the pact he had with the party leaders if our presidential candidate comes from the North.
“We will also begin to mount pressure on major stakeholders in the party across the country to ensure he abides by the agreement”, he said.
