PDP shops for Ogbulafor’s replacement - Shortlists 3 - Maduekwe, Anyim top list

Taiwo Adisa, Group Politics Editor - 22.09.2009

AHEAD of the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which comes up on Thursday, power brokers in the party are said to have shortlisted three of its chieftains as possible replacements for the embattled National Chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor.
Ogbulafor has been in the eye of the storm for sometime now, following allegations of non-performance said to have been levelled against him by members of the party’s national caucus.

The chairman had faced removal last April ahead of the special national convention of the party, but he managed to stave off the removal bid at the time.

Sources said that the names of a former Senate president, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, had been consistently mentioned since the Ogbulafor saga began.

The national chairman is also the subject of a current legal tussle in Abuja over allegations that he partook in an alleged N104 million misappropriation, when he served as Minister of Special Duties in charge of Economic Matters during the Obasanjo administration.

A human rights group, the Human Rights Justice and Peace Foundation (HRJPF), led by one Comrade Chidi Nwosu, had obtained the order of an Abuja high court presided over by Justice M. G. Umar in a bid to compel the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to prosecute Ogbulafor over the alleged N104 million scam.

Besides, some concerned PDP elders had also written to President Umaru Yar’Adua asking that the chairman be probed over the alleged purchase of a N400 million private property in Abuja, recently.

The group, in its petition, said that the chairman had been leading an executive that had been unduly involved in a display of wealth in recent times.

The group claimed that the ICPC had earlier indicted the national chairman in its probe into the N104 million matter and asked the president to probe into reasons for the suspension of Ogbulafor’s prosecution by the ICPC.

While President Yar’Adua is yet to make his opinion public on the said allegations, Ogbulafor was quoted in the media as saying that his detractors should go to court if they were sure of their facts.

The suit by HRJPF is said to be a response to Ogbulafor’s challenge to defend himself in court.

President Yar’Adua had summoned the leadership of the party two weeks ago, during which he demanded the holding of a mid-term convention.

The convention is said to be aimed at principally determining the fate of Ogbulafor who is also accused of leading a divided executive committee.

Besides, a source said that Yar’Adua was intent on exerting his authority on the party ahead of the 2011 election, such that he would be in control of the machinery of the party.

Sources said that the president appeared to have lost faith in Ogbulafor.

As a result of the development, the names of Maduekwe and Anyim have often been mentioned, with a source adding another Presidency official as the third candidate.

The president is said to be considering the three names, while he is set to make his decision known on the eve of the NEC meeting.

A source said that some people had been selling the candidature of Anyim to the president of late and that some others had zeroed in on Maduekwe.

But in a fast move to save his job, Ogbulafor had, last week, petitioned the president, naming some party bigwigs as those responsible for his plight.

Ogbulafor was also said to have been joined in the battle to save his job by the governor of Ebonyi State, Mr. Martin Elechi, who was said to have written a similar petition in defence of Ogbulafor.

It was gathered that President Yar’Adua had acted on the said petitions but a source said that the president did not appear to be taking them seriously, as he was bent on stamping his own identity on the party ahead of the 2011 polls.

“You will remember that Ogbulafor was an emergency creation at the 2008 convention. He was not in the picture originally and now that he is facing a series of allegations, the president is open to discussing his future in the party, especially as the man is said to have become the mouthpiece of some governors,” a source told the Nigerian Tribune, on Monday

who cares,

its amazing how they come up with all these talks of corruption and fraud in other to replace one fool with another fool.

The Government of Umaru Yar'adua has no business pontificating on corruption so long as it still employs the very Attorney General of Fraud himself, Mike Aondoakaa.

MrCrackles (m)
why are you so upset. So you think na only chairman position una qualify for not president. You make me laugh.

And I do not think Chief Ojo Maduekwe. want to be chairman of PDP.