THE number of contenders for the position of National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, has been pruned down to the last three.
Former Senate President, Iyiochia Ayu, on Tuesday, emerged as the consensus candidate of the North Central, a former Katsina State Governor, Ibrahim Shema, emerged from the North West after polling majority polls from six, out of the seven states in the zone.
His main challenger, former Kaduna State Governor, Ahmed Makarfi, was left with votes from his home state.
PDP Deputy National Chairman (North), Senator Suleiman Nazif, who hails from Bauchi State, emerged as the sole candidate from the North East.
The three candidates will face each other when the Northern Caucus of the PDP meets to decide who among them will be presented as the choice of the north for the position during the national convention scheduled to hold on October 30-31, 2021.
Late on Tuesday night, party stakeholders met at the Benue State Governors Lodge, Asokoro and nominated former Senate President, Iyiochia Ayu, as the standard bearer of the zone.
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, who is currently the only PDP Governor from the zone, announced the decision after the meeting.
Ortom, who briefed reporters after the meeting, said, “This is a stakeholders’ meeting of the central PDP in continuation of finding consensus candidates for the national chairmanship of a party.
“Looking for someone with the capacity with the commitment, love and passion for our party. We met here for several hours.
“Among the five persons that were contesting, the leadership of our party from North Central unanimously agreed to sponsor former Senate President Iyorchia Ayu as national chairman of our party.
“There was no voting, we all agreed that he is the right person for this job at this time.
