AHMADU ALI IS NOW THE PDP BOT CHAIRMAN

After a tough battle with about five contenders, including the newly appointed chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Tony Anenih, former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, Okwesilieze Nwodo, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu and Shuaibu Oyedokun, a former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ahmadu Ali, has emerged as the party’s new Board of Trustees’ chairman, BoT as President Olusegun Obasanjo voluntarily retired last year. Prior to the election it had been thought that the new BoT chairman would emerge by consensus as against a ballot. But none of the contenders agreed to step down for another. In line with Article 12.77 of the party’s constitution, the contenders agreed that the election would determine the acceptability of the winner. Conveying the party’s decision to the public, the board’s secretary, Walid Jibrin, said the PDP at its December meeting failed to agree on a consensus candidate and had thus settled for the process of election which had been fixed for today. Jibrin, however, said that today’s winner would serve a single term of five years in accordance with the party’s constitution. Ali’s emergence, political pundits believe shows the ascendancy of former president Obasanjo in the power equation in the PDP as Ali is believed to be his preferred candidate. Ali’s defeat of Anenih, perceived to be the candidate of President Goodluck Jonathan is seen as a political signal of his waning hold on the power levers of the party. Jonathan who is believed to want to run in the 2015 presidential election, has recently appointed Anenih into the “juicy” NPA board post.