Taking Iyorchia Ayu To Court Necessary To Sanitise PDP — Conrad Utaan

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Conrad Utaan, says a new person outside of the traditionally known leaders of the party is need to lead the party back to the top of Nigerian politics.

Utaan, who recently declared interest in replacing Iyorchia Ayu as the National Chairman of the PDP, said the older leaders of the party have become docile and that only someone like him with a new energy could revive the party.

When asked on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday if the party needed someone without leadership experience at national level, the Benue-born politician said, “That is exactly what the party requires at this time; new energy, new thinking to take the party to a new level.

“There are leaders in this party; we have people like the former Vice President Namadi Sambo, the former governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Makarfi – several leaders of this party who have become so docile because of the lack of cohesion, because of ego spinning in the party. We need somebody who is bold enough, courageous enough, young enough and with the energy.” ‘A Needed Intervention’ Utaan had dragged Ayu to a Makurdi court and got an interim injunction that restrained him from parading himself as the PDP National Chairman after his Igyorov Ward Exco suspended him.

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The suit by Utaan eventually led to the suspension and removal of Ayu from office. He, however, said that his decision to take Ayu to court was not because he wanted to replace him but was an intervention to save the party from collapsing. “What we did in June 2023 was an intervention. I did not remove the former national chairman; his council ward removed him from office.

They suspended him for not paying dues. “And of course as you see in saner climes, when you lead a party to such colossal defeat, the most honourable thing would have been to step aside. What I did was an intervention to bring some kind of sanity, to bring some kind of stability. “That relative stability is what PDP is enjoying now to be able to be talking about replacing the former chairman,” Utaan said. Following Ayu’s removal by the court, Umar Damagum, has been leading the party as acting National Chairman.