If a miracle does not happen, the tenure of the current National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Vincent Ogbulafor, may come to an abrupt end this month.
Reason: The opinion of the power-brokers within the PDP topmost hierarchy is that Ogbulafor had compromised on certain sensitive party matters and cannot be allowed to continue to paddle the ship of the party, at least for now.
Sunday Independent gathered Saturday night that in his place, a former governor and serving Minister in President Umaru Yar’Adua’s administration is being considered for his job.
Sources told this weekly that the minister’s choice had received the blessing of all the governors of the PDP-controlled states.
His choice, it was further said, may be ratified at the September 24 mini convention of the party, which was fixed last week.
A PDP chieftain who spoke with Sunday Independent last night said it was because Ogbulafor had as well fallen out of favour with Yar’Adua that his National Working Committee (NWC) was barred from direct involvement in the conduct of the Anambra governorship primaries.
The decision, said to have been personally taken by the President, had long unsettled Ogbulafor and some of his associates.
Although the PDP, through its Deputy National Chairman, Haliru Mohammed, has denied any rift in the ranks of its NWC, this newspaper gathered that discordant decisions taken by the Ogbulafor-led NWC on the coming Anambra election and other national issues have introduced elements of suspicion among the members.
It was not possible, however, to know if Ogbulafor was making moves to plead with the President and other big shots in the PDP, but sources said he is not relenting.