Former National Vice Chairman, South-West, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and governorship aspirant of the party in Ondo State, Dr. Eddy Olafeso, and two-time governorship candidate of the party in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, are top on the list of those that may be considered for the post of the party’s national chairman.
This is as the National Executive Committee, NEC, and the Board of Trustees, BOT, of the party may be looking towards the South-West to produce a replacement for the PDP national chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu.
The move followed the insistence of camp of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, on the need for Ayu to step down following the emergency of former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as the presidential candidate for the PDP in the 2023 election.
It was reliably gathered from a source that as part of the move to resolve the animosity within the party following the choice of Delta State governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, as Atiku running mate, Wike’s group had suggested that Ayu should be replaced with former governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko.
READ ALSO: Wike speaks on meeting with Tinubu, Atiku, Obi, others in London
The choice of Mimiko as the national chairman was however said to have been criticized by some members of the party who cited the former governor’s inconsistent membership and ‘nomadic disposition,’ as a strong reason.
Mimiko had defected from PDP to Zenith Labour Party before returning to PDP.
With Mimiko unlikely to be considered for the highest position in the party, both Dr. Eddy Olafeso and Mr. Jimi Agbaje remain the top contenders.
“Though both of them are from Ondo State, we will rather prefer Dr. Eddy Olafeso, a onetime Commissioner in Ondo State as the new national chairman, but the Wike group are objecting to it, saying that Dr. Olafeso was a man Friday of the former national chairman’s man, Prince Uche Secondus, and by extension Atiku Abubakar’s man too,” the source said.
Those in support of Olafeso gave as reason for his qualification, his contributions to the success of the party in the South-West in the 2019 elections which produced Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, and several federal lawmakers in the zone, the spirited fight in 2018 in Osun State which laid the foundation for the emergence of governor-elect, Senator Ademola Adeleke, recently.
It was also gathered that some loyalists of Wike are proposing the appointment of Taofeek Arapaja as acting national chairman of PDP, even though the names of Agbaje, Olafeso may be presented to Atiku in the next few weeks.
The source said, however, that Olafeso could emerge as the next PDP national chairman before October.
Recall that the PDP crisis escalated after Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, was unveiled as Atiku’s running mate on June 16, especially since consequent upon the emergence of the Waziri Adamawa as the party’s presidential candidate at a period some leaders wanted the South to produce the president.
Atiku’s emergence in the race which produced Wike as runner up, threw the spanner into the wheel of the party, with Wike threatening to leave and various moves to reconcile all parties have failed.
Atiku had last Thursday met with Wike in London alongside governors of Abia, Benue, Adamawa, and Oyo States and other PDP stakeholders including Donald Duke.
Wike’s insistence on Ayu’s resignation, sources said, would balance the leadership of the party in which all the top national positions in the PDP are being held by members from the northern zones of the country.
