Ahead of the October 31 national elective convention of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, leaders and stakeholders of the party from the North Central, Tuesday night, unanimously adopted former Senate President, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, for the position of national chairman.
Ayu had the backing of the Benue State governor, who is Deputy Chairman of the PDP zoning committee, Dr. Samuel Ortom.
Ortom, after a few weeks of rooting for another former President of the Senate, David Mark, turned to Ayu following alleged opposition by some party bigwigs.
Addressing newsmen at the event, Governor Ortom said: “This is stakeholders meeting of the North Central PDP in continuation of finding consensus candidate for the national chairmanship of our party.
“We are looking for someone with the capacity, commitment, love and passion for our party. We met here for several hours and among the five persons that were contesting.
“As the leadership of our party from North Central, we unanimously agreed to sponsor former Senate President, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, to be National Chairman of our party.
“There was no voting; we all agreed that he is the right person for this job at this time.
“Tomorrow (today, Wednesday), the northern stakeholders of our PDP are going to meet. So he will be presented to the northern caucus of the party.
“I think that by the grace of God they will also accept him.”
He also noted that other geo-political zones from the North are free to present their candidates, regardless of the choice of Ayu.
The meeting had in attendance former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki; ex-Information Minister, Professor Jerry Gana; former governors of Niger, Kogi and Kwara states, Babangida Aliyu, Ibrahim Idris and Abdulfatai Ahmed, respectively, among others.
It lasted for over three hours and attracted other big dignitaries from the geo-political zone.