Iyorchia Ayu, the former Senate President, has been elected as the Peoples Democratic Party’s National Chairman (PDP).
With 3,426 votes, Ayu, who was previously chosen as the consensus candidate for the job, won the election without opposition.
Taofeek Arapaja, a former deputy governor of Oyo state, has also been elected as the party’s Deputy National Chairman (south).
Arapaja received 2,004 votes to defeat Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the former governor of Osun State, who received 705 votes.
For the Deputy National Chairman (North), former governorship candidate of Yobe state, Umar Damagum polled 2,222 votes to defeat former minister of women affairs from Borno state, Inna Ciroma who got 365 votes.
On the other hand, Muhammed Suleiman polled 3,072 votes to defeat his Kaduna counterpart, Usman Elkudan who garnered 219 for the position of the youth leader.
Meanwhile, only three out of the 21 national working committee (NWC) positions were contested, while consensus candidates were adopted for the remaining positions.
The other NWC positions are National Secretary, Deputy National Secretary, National Treasurer, Deputy National Treasurer, National Financial Secretary, Deputy National Financial Secretary, National Organising Secretary, and Deputy National Organising Secretary.
The position of National Publicity Secretary, Deputy National Publicity Secretary, National Auditor, Deputy National Auditor, National Legal Adviser, Deputy National Legal Adviser, National Women Leader, Deputy National Women Leader, and Deputy National Youth Leader were also adopted based on consensus.
Governor of Adamawa state and Chief Returning Officer of the election, Ahmadu Fintiri, declared the candidates duly elected.
The newly-elected National Chairman said the opposition party is back to rescue Nigeria from the “terrible mess” the country has been pushed into.
Ayu added that Nigerians will see a “mammoth crowd” defecting to the party in the coming days.