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Obasanjo is currently the chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees and is believed to be backing the candidature of former governor of Ebonyi State, Dr. Sam Egwu, for the position of the chairman of the party.
Newsmen were informed that some former governors from the South-east and South-south may have chosen to support former Senate President, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, as a fall-back position if they are unable to get a stronger candidate to stop Egwu.
It was also gathered that the election of Dimeji Bankole as the Speaker of the House of Representatives was part of a larger plan to dislodge Obasanjo from the chairmanship of the Board of Trustees.
Bankole, like Obasanjo, is an Egba man from Abeokuta, Ogun State, and this message is now being passed across that two Egba men cannot occupy such exalted positions at the same time, although one is a party position while the other is government.
Newsmen learnt that the anti-Obasanjo sentiments weighed heavily in the successful mobilisation of House members to eject Mrs. Patricia Etteh as the Speaker.
As the December 8 convention of the party draws near, Anyim relived his tenure as the Senate President and said he had no regrets whatsoever as he picked the national chairmanship nomination form.
He had led a move to impeach Obasanjo which brought the former president to his knees in 2002, although Anyim could not return to the Senate in 2003 as Obasanjo had effectively moved to stop his re-election.
The former national secretary of the party, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, picked his national chairmanship form, describing the controversy zoning of the office of the national chairman to Ebonyi and Abia states as unconstitutional and undemocratic. Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu from Imo state also picked the form.
Fielding questions from newsmen after picking his form, Anyim said that he had no personal quarrels with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, as what transpired between them was “a legislature and executive misunderstanding” and nothing personal with the former president.
Anyim further explained that if he becomes the National Chairman of PDP, he would relate with Obasanjo according to the principles and rules of the party.
Ogbulafor described the zoning of the office of the national chairman to Ebonyi and Imo States as unconstitutional and undemocratic.
According to Ogbulafor, who pledged to uplift PDP to further heights, the zoning was “an attempt to weed popular candidates out of the race.” He called on all contestants to play by the rules and respect the party’s constitution.
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