- * As Party Delegates Elect Him, Senator Sam Anyanwu As National Chairman, Secretary
By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-Chief)
Former Senate President and ex-Interior Minister, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, was elected at the weekend as the new National Chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the party's national convention held on Saturday at the Eagle Square ground, Abuja.
The PDP also elected Senator Sam Nnaemeka Anyanwu, a former Senate Committee Chairman on Public Petitions, Ethics, and Privileges who represented Imo East in the 8th Senate, as the new National Secretary. Anyanwu emerged with a uniform vote of 3,426.
Ayu will take over the affairs of the embattled party from the incumbent national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, whose intractable running battle with some influential leading lights of the party scuttled his dream of returning as the party's national chairman.
The PDP delegates however elected Chief Taofeek Arapaja as the Deputy National Chairman (South) of the party.
While Senator Iyorchia Ayu who was the consensus candidate for the position of chairman polled 3,426 affirmative votes out of 3,511 accredited party delegates, his deputy, Arapaja gathered a total of 2,004 votes to trounce his lone challenger, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a former Military Administrator of Lagos State and ex-Governor of Osun state. Oyinlola polled 705 votes, while 165 votes were voided.
The Deputy National Chairmanship position for North Region went to Umar Damagum who trashed his sole opponent, Mrs. Inna Ciroma with 2,222 votes. Ciroma managed to garner a meager 365 votes.
The PDP also elected Mohammed Suleiman as National Youth Leader with 3,072 votes. His opponent, Usman Elkudan, won only 219 votes. The party, however, attempted to elect officers for all 21 national offices on a consensus basis but this arrangement ran into a storm as agreement could not be reached for three offices.
The three offices were: the Deputy National Chairman (South) and Deputy National Chairman (North), as well as the National Youth Leader of the party. Those returned unopposed along with the new National Secretary, Senator Sam Anyanwu, with uniform votes of 3,426 were Ahmed Mohammed (National Treasurer); Umar Bature (National Organising Secretary), and Daniel Woyegikuro as National Financial Secretary.
Adamawa state governor, Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Fintiri, who was the Returning Officer of the Convention, returned as elected, Chief Daniel Okechukwu, a Chartered Accountant based in Awka, Anambra State capital, as National Auditor; Debo Ologunagba as National Publicity Secretary; Stella Effah-Attoe as National Woman Leader and Kamaldeen Adeyemi Ajibade as National Legal Adviser.
Also elected were Ndubisi David as Deputy National Treasurer; Setonji Kosheodo as Deputy National Secretary; Ibrahim Abdullahi as Deputy National Publicity Secretary and Ighoyota Amori as Deputy National Organising Secretary; Adamu Kamale as Deputy National Financial Secretary; Hajara Wanka as Deputy National Woman Leader; Timothy Osadolor, as Deputy National Youth Leader, Okechukwu Osuoha as Deputy National Legal Adviser and Abdulrahman Mohammed as Deputy National Auditor.
The newly-elected National Working Committee (NWC) members, NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER learned, will be sworn in on Thursday, December 9, 2021, at the Wadata Plaza national secretariat of the PDP when the tenure of Prince Uche Secondus led Exco would have expired.
Shortly after their election, however, the new PDP helmsman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, expressed his delight over his election and appreciated the party delegates on behalf of the new NWC members, assuring that with the outcome of the Saturday's convention, the PDP has begun the process of repositioning itself towards reclaiming power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 general elections with the intent to develop Nigeria.
Ayu stated: "I want to sincerely appreciate the PDP family. Today is simply a ‘thank you’ address. When we started this party 23 years ago, we never in any way imagined that the journey would get us to this stage. A stage where we ruled for 16 years, we went into rough times, but for anybody who bothers to see: PDP is back.
“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, and who have made this event such a wonderful event. Many people imagine that this convention will lead to the break up of PDP. Those people who are dreaming like that, their dreams were misplaced.
“Those who have lost hope should know that Nigeria is not a divided country. A small group of people decided to divide Nigeria. PDP will come back to unite our people, put them together, north and south, east and west. We will move ahead to develop this country. We did it before. We are going to do it again. I want to thank the governors,” Ayu quipped. NNL.
