2015;Mark Ambition Stops Ahmad Ali From Becoming PDP BoT Chairman

2015;Mark Ambition Stops Ahmad Ali From Becoming PDP BoT Chairman.

Power play and intrigues on Tuesday night characterised the meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT) that sought to find a successor to former President Olusegun Obasanjo as chairman of the board.

It was gathered yesterday that the meeting witnessed deft manoeuvres by Senate President David Mark, who in a bid to retain his position as the North-central zonal leader of the party, laid down the plot that tactically edged out the former National Chairman of the party, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, from the board chairmanship race.

Sources said Mark masterminded the ratification of the election of the board secretary, Senator Walid Jibrin, for a five-year tenure to shut out Ali, widely regarded as one of the frontline aspirants, from emerging as the BoT chairman.

Mark, from Benue State, is the current PDP leader from the North-central zone and had Ali, from Kogi State, been successful in the contest for the BoT chairmanship, he would have automatically become the party’s leader in the zone.

Sources said no sooner had Ali made a strong pitch for the position, during which he restated his leadership qualities and his contributions to the party, than Mark moved the motion to confirm Jibrin, from Nasarawa State, as the secretary of the board for five years.

Before the meeting commenced at about 8.25 pm on Tuesday at the banquet hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the social media was agog with reports that Ali had been elected unopposed as the chairman of the PDP BoT.

Apart from the reports from the social media, supporters of Ali sent text messages to all members soliciting their support for Ali. One of the text messages read: “Good morning. As Africa’s largest political party, (the) BoT chairman should be a man with known passion for total nationalism, a strategist whose legacies transcend mere politics, a craftsman, a committed Nigerian whose services for a long time have been genuinely consistent in line with the desires of our national aspiration. Ahmadu Ali is tested through the crucibles of our nation - Goddy Emeka Ejiofor.”

Media gathered that the old political rivalry between Mark and Ali eventually played out, when the Senate president called for the ratification of Jibrin’s election as the substantive secretary.

By the constitution of the PDP, the principle of federal character, which determines the allocation of offices, preclude the chairman and secretary of the board from coming from the same geopolitical zone.

Other details of the BoT meeting revealed that a former Minister of Information, Prof Jerry Gana, was nominated chairman of the committee to streamline and restructure membership of the BoT, other than the statutory members of the board.

Other members of Gana’s committee are Mrs. Stella Omu from the South-south; Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Shema, from the North-west; Alhaji Shettima Mustapha, from the North-east; Chief Bode George from the South-west; and Senator Hope Uzodima from the South-east.

Those who attended the meeting included President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice-President Namadi Sambo, Mark, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme, and chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.