PDP CRISIS: AYU TO GO, WIKE'S CAMP TO PRODUCE REPLACEMENT FROM SOUTH WEST

Atiku Abubakar, the People's Democratic Party's presidential candidate, is facing intense pressure from his supporters in the wake of rumors that he has acceded to Nyesom Wike's demand that Lyiochia Ayu, the PDP National Chairman, be fired.

On Friday, it was reported in Abuja that several agreements were reached during the face-to-face meeting between Atiku and Wike in London. Ayu should be given a dignified leave and accommodated in the next PDP government when it is constituted, according to what was learned to be part of the arrangement.

Atiku was also pressured by the Wike camp to agree to allow him to choose Ayu's successor, who had to come from the South West Zone.

However, it is unclear whether Atiku acceded to Wike's camp's insistence that he serve only one term in order to facilitate the transfer of power to the south and allay southerners' sentiments of betrayal.

At the London meeting, the Wike camp outnumbered the Atiku camp two to one and was able to get the PDP candidate to promise to present the Senate President and a few key National Assembly officers.

Additionally, members of the Wike camp will be assigned to crucial ministerial positions that have not yet been decided upon as well as the leadership of Federal parastatals and agencies.

In exchange, the Wike campaign committed to be crucial in promoting the Atiku/Okowa ticket and supplying logistics for the overall campaign.

"It was also decided that media hostilities should end, and this was largely responsible for the statement Atiku led his Media Office to release on Thursday," a source close with the development said.

"Atiku had little room to maneuver because he was outnumbered, and the open begging by Mr. Peter Obi and Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, candidates for the Labour Party and the All Progressives Congress, did not help matters."