A FORMER Senate President Iyorchia Ayu has emerged the new National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after he was elected unopposed at the party’s national convention, which held at the Eagle Square, Abuja on October 30 and 31.
Days before the convention Ayu had been selected as the consensus candidate for the position by governors elected on the platform of the PDP.
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The PDP governors influenced the outcome of the convention – all the candidates for various positions who were named in the governors’ ‘consensus list’ were duly elected as national officers and now form the party’s new National Working Committee (NWC).
The consensus list – which is also the list of the new national officers of the PDP – is as follows:
1. Iyorchia Ayu – National Chairman
2. Umar Iliya Damagum – Deputy National Chairman (North)
3. Taofeek Arapaja – Deputy National Chairman (South)
4. Samuel Anyanwu – National Secretary
5. Ahmed Yayari Mohammed – National Treasurer
6. Umar Bature – National Organising Secretary
7. Daniel Woyegikuro – National Financial Secretary
8. Stella Effah-Attoe – National Woman Leader
9. Mohammed Kadade suleiman – National Youth Leader
10. Kamaldeen Adeyemi Ajibade – National Legal Adviser
11. Debo Ologunagba – National Publicity Secretary
12. Okechukwu Obiechina Daniel – National Auditor
13. Setonji Koshoede – Deputy National Secretary
14 Ndubisi Eneh David – Deputy National Treasurer
15. Ibrahim Abdullahi – Deputy National Publicity Secretary
16. Ighoyota Amori – Deputy National Organizing Secretary
17. Adamu Kamale – Deputy National Financial Secretary
18. Hajaja Yakubu Wanka – Deputy National Woman Leader
19. Timothy Osadolor – Deputy National Youth Leader
20. Okechukwu Osuoha – Deputy National Legal Adviser
21. Abdulrahman Mohammed – Deputy National Auditor
It would be recalled that PDP governors had also floated a ‘unity list’ at the party’s 2017 national convention which produced the Uche Secondus-led NWC, which has now been replaced with the new Ayu-led team.
Hundreds of party delegates, from the different state chapters of the party, participated in the election of the new national officers at the convention which held amid fanfare.
Election into most of the national offices was largely rancour-free and uneventful apart from the position of Deputy National Chairman (South) which was zoned to the South-West.
The position was initially micro-zoned to Osun State and a former governor of the state Olagunsoye Oyinlola emerged as the leading candidate after he was endorsed by Oyo State governor Seyi Makinde, leader of the PDP in the South-West.
However Makinde changed his mind and started rooting for a former deputy governor of Oyo State Taofek Arapaja after PDP governors reportedly rejected Oyinlola due to concerns that he was too independent-minded for their liking.
As a result Arapaja became the choice of the governors and his name appeared on the consensus list.
But despite the consensus arrangement in place for election of national officers at the convention, Oyinlola insisted on going ahead to contest the position of Deputy National Chairman (South) with Arapaja.
Arapaja eventually emerged the Deputy National Chairman (South).
Other positions that were contested are Deputy National Chairman (North) and National Youth Leader.
Officers in the other positions were elected unopposed.
Chairman of the PDP National Convention Planning Committee Adamawa State governor Ahmadu Fintiri announced the results of the convention.
* Time for PDP to rescue Nigeria… Ayu, new national chairman
Accompanied by the governors on the podium shortly after he was declared as national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu said the time has come for the PDP to rescue Nigeria from misrule by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Nigeria has been in a terrible mess in the last six years, the new PDP national chairman observed.
Ayu in his remarks noted that he was a founding member of the PDP.
He declared that the PDP is back.
The new PDP national chairman said, “Today is simply a thank you address. When we started this party 23/24 years ago, we never in any way imagined that the journey will get us to this stage – a stage where we ruled for 16 years, we went into rough times but for anybody who will bother to see, PDP is back.
“PDP is back to rescue Nigeria from the terrible mess we have been in the last six years.”
“I want to appreciate all of you who have taken time as delegates, as observers, as supporters, as members of the media, as members of the security services, who have made this event such a wonderful event,” he added.
Other PDP leaders who spoke at the convention also insisted that the PDP was set to rescue Nigeria from bad governance by the APC administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Adamawa governor Fintiri, who chaired the national convention, said, “The present APC-led government is hell-bent on railroading the country into multifaceted recession; from the economy to governance, national security, diplomacy, poverty, unemployment, anti-corruption, observance of the rule of law, citizenship and national cohesion.
“That citizens are yearning for the return of PDP at the centre as the 2023 elections draw nearer is equally not in doubt.
“We have to take back our country as we have always done. We have to save Nigeria.”
Fintiri noted that if the founding fathers of the PDP could force the military out of power, then the party can also “push the people who don’t know the true definition of good governance and national coexistence out of power”.
“This is a rescue mission for Nigeria. This is the role PDP was invented to play,” Fintiri declared.
Speaking in the same vein, former vice president Atiku Abubakar insisted that the APC had proven to be ill-equipped to lead the nation, and have shown itself to be a corrupt, divisive party that was never prepared and never had an idea of what it takes to lead a diverse nation like Nigeria.
“Nigeria is in its most trying period. I am 70 years old and I can tell you that I have never seen this country so disintegrated, disunited, with the number of unemployment so much; security challenges in all corners along with lingering tensions surrounding the very nature of our existence.
“Nigeria is at the edge of the precipice because of the lacklustre performance of the APC,” Abubakar said.
Members of the PDP are hoping that the election of new national officers at the convention would reposition the party to wrest power from the APC in 2023.
Former national chairman Uche Secondus, who has threatened to challenge his suspension and eventual removal at the Supreme Court, was accused by party members of lacking the ability to lead the PDP as a national opposition party.
Under Secondus, it was believed that the PDP was not effective as an opposition party and did not do enough to tackle the APC-led Federal Government.