Following the resignation of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as the Chairman of Board of Trustees (BoT) of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, battle has begun on who will take over the mantle of leadership.
Five aspirants have already indicated interest to mount the highly-exalted seat, which former President Olusegun Obasanjo voluntarily vacated sometime in April.
Aspirants gunning for the seat include: Chief Harry Akande, Senator Ahmadu Ali, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu and a former President of the Senate, Senator Ken Nnamani. But it was learnt that the presidency is tipping a former Minister of Works, Chief Tony Anenih to emerge as the next BoT chairman.
DailyPost has gathered that the Presidency met on Thursday with some top members of the board, and urged everybody to vote for Anenih on Friday night when the election is expected to take place.
A close insider, who craved anonymity, said the President, Goodluck Jonathan and his supporters believe that the emergence of Anenih would make his bid for second term in 2015 come true.
However, some members of the board from the Northern part of the country are against Anenih’s candidancy, hence they prefer Nnamani.
The source said, “The President and his supporters are of the opinion that if Anenih emerges the chairman of the PDP, he will help the president to get second term ticket from the party.
“Apart from that, the President and his aides want someone who can checkmate Obasanjo and others who have turned out to be Jonathan’s critics.”
But other opponents prefer Nnamani, who is from the Southeast geo-political zone.
They maintained that it would be wrong for the President, who is from the South-South to insist on someone from the same zone to become the BoT chairman of the party.
He said, “The President is from the South-South, his deputy is from the North-West, the National Chairman of the PDP is from the North-East, while the National Secretary of PDP is from the South-West. “So, in the running of the party, where is South-East?”
In a similar view, a member of the board from the Northwest region said it would be wrong for President Jonathan, who hails from the South-South to throw his weight behind someone from his zone.
He noted that though people from the South-East are currently holding high position in the government, those positions were not party related. It was also gathered that the immediate past chairman, Obasanjo is tipping Ali, who happened to be the chairman of the party when he was the President.
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