I am the PDP National Chairman ---------- Ahmed Gulak

Mr Ahmed Gulak

A major crisis may be in the offing at Nigeria’s major opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), as Mr Ahmed Gulak, on Wednesday, declared himself as national chairman of the party. 


Gulak, a past special adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Matters, pronounced himself the substantive chairman of the PDP inside the National Working Committee Hall at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja. Gulak was flanked by Dr Doyin Okupe, another former aide of ex-president Jonathan who held office as special assistant on Public Affairs, and a former Commissioner in Bayelsa State, Chief Ayakeme Whisky. Explaining his decision to take over the affairs of the party, Gulak said he was acting based on a court order of December 16, 2015, which asked the party to name someone from the North-East to replace the former chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu. Gulak also told the cheering crowd, which included workers at the secretariat, that the NWC must work with him in order to move the party forward. The PDP has in recent weeks shown signs of division with members of the National working committee unable to agree on a joint stand concerning the prosecution of Olisa Metuh, a member of the committee and the party’s national publicity secretary. It is yet unclear how members of the NWC will react to Gulak’s announcement.