The coast appears clear for Iyorchia Ayu, a former Senate president in the aborted third republic to emerge as the national chairman of Nigeria’s main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the party’s national convention in Abuja on October 31.
Ayu had emerged as consensus chairmanship candidate of the PDP after the position was zoned to the North.
He had also emerged as the consensus national chairmanship candidate for the North-central zone after other contenders from the zone withdrew from the race.
He was subsequently adopted as the candidate of the whole North after two other contenders from the North, former governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shema, and the incumbent deputy national chairman (North), Nazif Suleiman, stepped down for him.
However, Ayu would be inheriting a party full of bickering, going through a difficult period, and would have his hand full in an attempt to restore the lost glory of the PDP.
Thus, observers say that his immediate task would be to rebuild the party and reconcile aggrieved members across the country that apparently had become disconnected with the leadership style of former chairman, Uche Secondus.
In the last few months, there had been obvious signs that the PDP was in trouble, while members and party chieftains had become increasingly dissatisfied with the leadership of Secondus and his failure to manage and resolve several crises in state chapters which had further polarised the party.
Such was the case, that in the last one year, three state governors and several prominent chieftains have dumped the PDP for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The governors are Dave Umahi of Ebonyi, Ben Ayade of Cross River, and Bello Matawale of Zamfara.
Although the governors cited diverse reasons, analysts believe that instability in the PDP and the failure of Secondus to manage the issues in the party played a huge part.
Political watchers say considering Ayu’s vast experience and pedigree in politics of unifying diverse forces in a political environment, he would have a huge task of mending fences already created by the intrigues of his emergence.
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“The emergence of Iyiocha Ayu through a consensus arrangement is supposed to be a unifying point for all warring groups and factions in PDP. So, it will be disastrous for him and his executive team not to work towards the unity of the party ahead of the 2023 general elections”, Kunle Okunade, a political analyst, said.
Politics is about interest, hence in the South-West, there are high expectations among party members that Ayu’s tenure would benefit the region and lead to a more robust PDP.
Consequently, expectations are high among party members in the South-West that after the new chairman assumes office; the party would find an answer to several contending issues in recent times which had affected the stability of the party ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Presently, several state chapters of the party in the region are polarised and engulfed in a leadership crisis. Examples could be seen in Lagos, Ogun chapters, where different factions are laying claims to the structure of the party.
The leadership crisis in the Lagos chapter is particularly serious, and has been a reoccurring issue over the years and continues to adversely affect the fortunes of the PDP in the state. Even last Saturday’s state congress ended in chaos and was disrupted by touts.
Also, among these issues expected to gain Ayu’s attention is the clamour that the party should zone the presidency to the South after the expiration of the tenure of incumbent Muhammadu Buhari who is from the North.
Perhaps the zoning of the chairmanship position to the North has further fuelled that agitation.
Even though there are several Nigerians who are of the view that the presidency should be chosen on competency and not on ethnicity or tribal lines in 2023.
Observers say that the matter is a very sensitive one, which must be handled with care and for all intent and purposes it will serve. They say that the situation in the country needs someone with a magic wand and track record, to quickly return the country to the path of peace, unity, and economic prosperity.
“If you watch, you’ll realise that both APC and PDP are watching each other’s moves to know how to place their own game. PDP has by consensus picked a former Senate president, Ayu from the North-Central as its national chairman, while other national working committee positions have been zoned strategically to various states for political balancing, with the national secretary to the South-East,” Adelaja Adeoye, PDP chieftain and member national convention organising publicity sub-committee said.
Adeoye further stressed that the expectation of Southern members of the party is that the presidency would be zone to the South in view of Ayu’s emergence.
According to him, “The expectation of Southern members of the party is that, as the national chairman is coming from the North, the presidential candidate should come from the South.
“We must also take note of the sensitivity and sentiment of the Southern people in this regard, who want the position across parties rotated to the South, since Buhari who is from the North has done 8 years.
Meanwhile, speaking further Okunade said that the emergence of Ayu’s as national chairman should give the South-West region hope in their quest for the presidential position to be zone to the region.
“I think Ayu’s emergence is expected to give the Southern region hope in the political arrangement of the country and sense of belonging in the political sphere,” he said.
Ayu is a former senator who was elected president of the Senate during the Nigerian third republic. (1992–1993).
He later served in various ministerial positions in the cabinet of President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007. Ayu was born in Gboko in Benue State.
He taught sociology in the University of Jos, including courses on the art and science of Marxism. He was the chairman of the Jos University chapter of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
After entering politics, he was influential among the majority Tiv people in his home state of Benue. He was elected senator in the third republic on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and became Senate president.
In November 1993, the senate impeached Ayu, who was a strong opponent of the Interim National Government established after the late Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, the presumed elected ‘president’ had been prevented from taking office.
Ayu, however, later became the minister for education in late General Sani Abacha’s military government. In March 1994 he chaired a workshop on technical education in Nigeria, seeking ways to learn from Germany, the United States, Britain and Japan.
