Senator Mao Ohuabunwa was named chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) revamped Board of Trustees (BoT) on Friday by a group of the party that supports Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike.
It further declared that former Kaduna governor Ahmed Makarfi will be replaced as Secretary of the newly formed Board of Trustees by Isah Dansidi.
The group declared the dissolution of the party’s Board of Trustees, which was headed by former Senate President Adolphus Wabara, as previously reported.
The declaration was made while Abdulrahman Muhammad, the factional Acting National Chairman, was inaugurating a new BoT during a meeting at Wike’s Life Camp residence in Abuja.
Muhammad stated that the dissolution was required to restore moral guidance and constitutional order within the party before the gathering entered a closed session.
He maintained that Wabara’s continued leadership was “untenable” due to his reported suspension by the Abia State PDP for anti-party activities, accusing the Wabara-led BoT of losing the “moral balance expected of that noble institution.”
Some information on the new PDP factional BoT Chairman is provided below.
1. Mao Ohuabunwa was born in Port Harcourt on May 24, 1957, to parents from Atani in Arochukwu, Abia State.
2. In 1982, he graduated from Rivers State University of Science and Technology with a degree in Applied Biology.
3. After establishing a medical lab, he went on to establish St. Marsons Diagnostic Limited, a network of diagnostic facilities with locations in Yola, Jalingo, Port Harcourt, Lagos, and Abuja.
4. He ran under the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) for a seat in the House of Representatives in 1998, but political unrest ended the process. He ran for office again in 1999, this time under the PDP, and was elected, making history as the first individual to serve in the National Assembly from both the Ohafia and Arochukwu seats.
5. Ohuabunwa headed the South-East caucus and advanced to the position of Deputy Leader during his two terms in the House (1999–2007).
6. He also held the positions of treasurer from 2004 to 2007 and head of the ECOWAS Parliament’s Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Security Committee from 2001 to 2003.
7. Ohuabunwa, a member of the PDP, won the senatorial seat in Abia North in 2015.
8. Nevertheless, Orji Uzor Kalu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a former governor of Abia, defeated him for his Senate seat in 2019.
9. Ohuabunwa has several degrees, including a PhD in Political Science from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and a Master’s in Human Resource Management from Rivers State University.
10. He was named Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the University of Port Harcourt’s Governing Council in July 2024.
11. The politician is also an Anglican Communion Knight of Saint Christopher.
12. He has children with his wife, Nimi Faith. On July 22, 2023, she passed away.
