Nigeria Content Online

The nine aspirants
for the position of national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP) will meet today in Abuja, as the party decides how they will
choose their next party leader.

The meeting follows
last week’s resignation of the party’s national chairman, Vincent
Ogbulafor. Mr. Ogbulafor is facing charges of fraudulently awarding
contracts worth about N200 million to fictitious companies when he was
the Minister of Special Duties during the Olusegun Obasanjo regime.

In the meantime,
candidates for the position are already emerging. Special Assistant to
the President on Political Matters, Polycarp Nwite, yesterday announced
his intention to contest for the position. Mr. Nwite is a Third
Republic senator and former ambassador to Botswana.

Others in the race
include former external affairs minister, Ike Nwachukwu, former Senate
President, Anyim Pius Anyim, former Ebonyi State governor, Sam Egwu,
Sunny Iroche, Dan Ulasi, and former Enugu State governor, Okwesilieze
Nwodo.

Mr. Nwodo is one of
the founding members of the party and is considered a favourite among
South-East senators who will meet later today to consider their
nominees for the chairmanship job.

Party at a standstill

While the race
ramps up, the ever-busy secretariat of the party in Wuse, Zone 5,
Abuja, was quiet on Monday. Car parks within and outside the premises
were empty and the secretariat is operating on skeletal staff. Workers,
who asked to remain anonymous, said that until a new chairman emerges,
they have nothing much to do.

An emergency meeting organized by party elder, Alex Ekwueme, to
discuss the emergence of a new chairman, was scheduled for Wednesday,
but has been postponed.