The new national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, who emerged by consensus early today, has been a major player in the Nigerian politics.
As a former lecturer in sociology and a Marxist, the 69 year-old politician understands Nigeria and its politics.
Sometimes he makes accurate predictions about the direction of the country in the dialectic struggle between the forces of change and conservatism.
Here are some things to know about the new PDP chairman:
1.Ayu is a son of Tivland, born in Gboko in Benue state 15 November 1952.
2. He was educated at University of Jos
3.He later became a a Marxist academic at the university. He taught students sociology and the science of Marxism.
4.He was a radical activist and member of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)
5. He was the Chairman of the Jos University chapter of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)
6. Iyorchia Ayu was elected Senator in 1992 as a member of the Social Democratic Party, in the short-lived Third Republic under the Babangida administration.
7. He later became senate president.
8. As Senate president, he was impeached and replaced by Ameh Ebute.
9. During the Abacha years, Ayu also served as minister for education from January 1994 to February 1995. He was replaced by the controversial Alhaji Wada Nas.
10. Ayu was part of moves to end Abacha military rule.
11. During the transitional period to civilian rule, Ayu was part of the campaign to elect Olusegun Obasanjo as president in 1999.
12. He was appointed Industry Minister by Obasanjo. He served between 1999 and 2001.
13. He later went on to serve as minister of internal affairs, from June 2003 to 2005. The National ID card project began during his tenure.
14. He was also briefly minister of the environment between June 2005 and December 2005. He soon fell out with Obasanjo and was dismissed from office without explanation.
15. Ayu left the PDP and joined the Action Congress (AC) formed by Bola Tinubu, his former ally in the Senate.
16. He was head of the campaign to elect Vice President Atiku Abubakar as president on the AC platform in April 2007.
17. In February 2007, Ayu was arrested and later arraigned by a Federal court on charges of terrorism. He was later released on bail.
18. Ayu later rejoined the PDP after Atiku also returned.
19. Ayu, along with Atiku was a founding member of the All Progressives Congress. He also quit to return once again to PDP.
20. Ayu, an Atiku supporter, was opposed to Muhammadu Buhari’s emergence as President in 2015 and revealed his warning to Tinubu, years later. He said he warned Tinubu, his friend, that he was making a mistake foisting Buhari on Nigerians.
“I talked to my friend, Tinubu, we are very close. I told him that we need to develop the progressive party in Nigeria. He didn’t believe me, he preferred to go and link up with the most right wing group in the North.
“And that right wing group was headed by Buhari in the name of CPC… I have known Gen. Buhari when he was the military Head of State. I was a university lecturer then.
“I know the tyranny that was visited on this country. I warned Tinubu that he will regret bringing Buhari and imposing him on the party.
“I believe he is regretting silently without telling Nigerians. But more is to be expected. I am sorry to say that if Buhari is re-elected in 2019, it will not only consume Tinubu, it will consume so many other people. It may even lead to the disintegration of Nigeria,” Ayu said in an interview.
Now as PDP chairman, he is now poised to undo the error of Bola Tinubu, by bringing PDP back to power.
“Those who have lost hope should know that Nigeria is not a divided country. A small group of people decided to divide Nigeria.
“PDP will come back to unite our people, put them together, north and south, east and west.
“We will move ahead to develop this country. We did it before. We are going to do it again”, he said on Sunday.
