Dr. Iyorchia Ayu not suspended as PDP chairman, says aide

Simon Imobo-Tswam, Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy to the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Iyorchia Ayu, has described as false a report (Not by The PUNCH) stating that his principal had been suspended from the position.

According to the report, the suspension followed an emergency meeting of the PDP National Working Committee.

The report claimed the Deputy National Chairman (North), Amb. Umar Damagun, had been appointed as National Chairman of the PDP, in an acting capacity.

Reacting, Imobo-Tswam said, “Even though we do not wish to dignify falsehood with a response, an official reaction is necessary in order to stem the tide of misinformation.”

This was contained in a statement, titled, ‘Ayu still PDP National Chairman,’ made available to newsmen on Wednesday.

It read in part, “Dr Iyorchia Ayu, the PDP National Chairman remains the PDP National Chairman.

“Dr Ayu took a well-deserved, two-week leave on 21st June 2022. He will be back next week to resume duties, specifically on July 6, 2022.

“A stickler for due process, Dr Ayu formally handed over to the Deputy National Chairman (North), Amb. Umar Damagun, and the Deputy National Chairman has held forth admirably since that day.

“It was in that acting capacity that he (Damagun) today, presided over the inauguration of the Osun State Gubernatorial Campaign Council, headed by the Executive Governor of Bayelsa State, H.E. Douye Diri

“If not that the authors of the mischievous and baseless Facebook posts were out to serve nefarious interests, they would have heard when the acting national chairman, Amb. Damagun, said during the ceremony today: “On behalf of my able National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, I hereby inaugurate you.”

“The general public is, therefore, advised to ignore the mischievous social media publications as they are purely the work of mischief makers and idle minds.”