BoT Chair: Governors Move to Stop Obasanjo’s Nomineee

Olusegun Obasanjo

From Chuks Okocha in Abuja
Former
chairman, Board of
Trustees of the Peoples
Democratic Party, ex-President
Oluse-gun Obasanjo, is likely to
have an uphill task in
determining who succeeds him.
THISDAY learnt Saturday that
his push for a former national
chairman of the party, Dr.
Ahmadu Ali, as his successor, is
being resisted by governors
from the north-central zone
where his candidate hails from.
Although the party has not
officially zoned the post to any
of the geopolitical regions in
the country, the five governors
of the
PDP in the north-central
zone are moving against the
possible emergence of Ali as the
BoT chairman by insisting that
the board secretary, Senator
Walid Jibrin’s tenure be
consolidated. Ali is from Kogi
State while Jibrin is from
Nasarawa State.
Besides the duo, others being
mentioned for the post include
Obasanjo’s predecessor, Chief
Tony Anenih and former senate
president, Ken Nnamani.
According to sources, should Ali
scale through as the BoT
chairman, Jibrin would come
under pressure to resign, as
there is no way both the
secretary and chairman of the
board can come from the same
zone.
But it was gathered that the
five governors of Kogi, Kwara,
Plateau, Benue and Niger
States have mapped out a plan
to ensure that the office of
the BoT secretary currently
held by Jibrin is consolidated
with the aim of defeating Ali’s
candidacy.
The five PDP governors from
the zone have written a letter
to the PDP national chairman,
Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, affirming
the election of Jibrin for a
period of five years.
THISDAY encountered the BoT
secretary at the Wadata Plaza
office of the PDP, when he
came to submit the letter to
Tukur.
“The
PDP governors from
north-central have written a
letter to consolidate my office
for the next five years. I was
elected last year through a
consensus and by their letter, I
am going to serve my full
tenure of office as stipulated in
the party constitution,” he said.
With
this development, Anenih
and Nnamani are being tipped
as possible successor to
Obasanjo who resigned his
position before the expiration
of his tenure.
The source said Obasanjo is
against Nnamani succeeding him
as the next BoT chairman,
although he has given no
reason.
However,
Obasanjo’s opposition
against Nna-mani may be
connected with the role the
former senate president played
in stopping the former
president’s alleged bid to for a
third term in office.
As things stand, the only
person that could stop
Obasanjo from achieving his
ambition of enthroning Ali is
President Goodluck Jonathan.
A
party source said that the
former president’s preference
for Ali is part of the game plan
to put structures in place for
Jonathan should he decide to
contest again in 2015.
According to the source,
“Ahmadu Ali is amenable to
Jonathan in 2015,” stating that
there is fear that Nnamani may
be more difficult to manipulate
as the chairman of the BoT.
“If
truly President Jonathan is
interested in a second term,
then, Ahmadu Ali is sure to
become the next chairman of
the PDP BoT. But if he is not,
then, the south-east may be in
contention to get it.
“Both Ali and Nnamani have
been tested and we know what
each of one of them could do
on the job,” the source said.
It
was also learnt that the
south-east is not relenting in
its quest to produce the next
chairman of the party’s BoT as
stakeholders from the zone
have sent emissaries to the
president, urging him to
support the zone.
They said it would amount to
marginalisation of the zone by
PDP, if the south-east were to
be denied the BoT chairmanship.
The
zone said it remains the
most marginalised in the PDP,
despite its support for the
party in the last general
elections.
A
new twist in the race has
also surfaced as a former All
Nigeria Peoples Party BoT
chairman, Chief Harry Akande,
from Oyo State, who recently
returned to the PDP has
signified interest in succeeding
Obasanjo.
He is arguing that since the
former governor of Nasarawa
State, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu,
who is now a senator has
resigned and was replaced by
Jibrin from the same zone, it is
expedient that the next
chairman of the BoT should
emerge from the south-west
where Obasanjo hails from.
According to Akande, “I am
therefore offering myself as a
candidate for the office of the
PDP BoT to replace Chief
Obasanjo as the next chairman.
As things are at the moment,
Oyo State has no member on
the BoT. The last BoT member
from Oyo State was Chief Ishola
Kolapo and he is dead.”

Source: Thisdaylive.com