*Insists the slot is for North Central
By Mohammed Danlami, Abuja
A former governor of Benue state, Gabriel Torwua Suswam, has reaffirmed his intention to replace Iyorchia Ayu as the substantive National Chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Suswam said he would reconcile the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if he emerged as the substantive national chairman.
“My intention is to reconcile the party given the situation that we have found ourselves in now,” Suswam said at the weekend at a meeting with senior journalists in Abuja.
He said that he had the capacity to turn the fortunes of the party around if given the opportunity to serve as the national chairman.
He said that since the removal of the former national chairman, Pro. Iyorchia Ayu, the party had not lived up to expectations, stressing that it was time to resuscitate the party.
“Ayu, as you know, was unceremoniously removed from office through a court case that was initiated from his home state, Benue. And by the constitution of our party, once the chairman or any other national officer is removed, his deputy will act pending when the zone that produced incumbent officer produces his replacement.
“Ayu was removed for about a year now and that has not happened because the party has not been able to put itself together.
“Issues that were outstanding have not been addressed; so every person seems to be doing whatever he or she likes. But after almost a year, there is this general feeling that the party is too despondent and there should be some resuscitation of the party and let us have a substantive chairman and that is why I declared my interest to replace Ayu.
“Since I declared my interest to replace Ayu, there have been series of activities. NEC has been called, caucus meeting has been called, and Board of Trustees meetings have been called. And I believe that some major decisions would be taken including having a substantive chairman to replace the acting chairman who is the deputy national chairman North,” he said.
Speaking further, Suswam said based on the constitution of the party and precedence, it was the turn of someone from the North-central to replace Ayu.
“We at the party level believe that based on antecedents, the North-central should produce the replacement for Ayu. It is clearly stated in the party’s constitution in Article 47 sub 6.
“It clearly states that once a national officer of the party is unable to act for whatever reason, the zone that he comes from should produce his replacement to complete his tenure.
“I don’t see any reason we would not do that because we are not devoid of people with capacity. The region has a lot of prominent persons.
“For me, I am not insisting that it must be me but if it’s me , it would be better for the party; but the North-central should not be shortchanged. “When Bamaga Tukur was removed, Mua’zu was brought in from the North-east, after Mua’zu, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff came in. So, there is a precedent for that and I don’t see any reason this should be an exception.
“When Solomon Lar’s first tenure expired, it was moved to Barnabas Gemade to complete the second tenure; of course, when Gemade was removed, Audu Ogbe completed the tenure of Gemade. There is a precedent for this and there is nothing unusual that we’re demanding from the North-central.”
