ATIKU TO WIKE AND OTHERS: AYU WILL NOT RESIGN

 Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, has stated that the PDP National Chairman, Dr. Lyorchia Ayu, will not resign as demanded by Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike and other PDP Governors in his camp.

In response to Wike and his loyalists' withdrawal from the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Atiku urged the aggrieved party chieftains to reconsider and retrace their steps.

Atiku said in a statement on Wednesday: "On the calls for the resignation or removal from office of our national chairman, however, I must reiterate what have said severally in public and in private; the decision for Dr. lyorchia Ayu to resign from office is personal to Dr. Ayu and, neither I nor anyone else can make that decision for him.

"As to the calls for the removal of Dr. Ayu from office, however, I will state that, as a committed democrat and firm believer in the rule of law and democratic tenets, and our party being one set up, organized and regulated by law and our constitution, it is my absolute belief that every thing that we do in our party must be done in accordance with, and conformity to, the law and our constitution.

"If Dr. Ayu is to be removed from office, it must be done in accordance with the laws that set out the basis for such removal. In any event, you will all recall that the very body that is empowered by law to initiate this removal from office, has already passed a vote of confidence in him."