Meet Mao Ohuabunwa: 12 Things You Should Know About PDP’s New Factional BoT Chairman

Senator Mao Ohuabunwa was named chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) reorganized Board of Trustees (BoT) on Friday by a group of the party that supports Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike.

Additionally, it announced that former Kaduna governor Ahmed Makarfi would be replaced as Secretary of the newly formed Board of Trustees by Isah Dansidi.

The faction declared the dissolution of the party’s Board of Trustees, which was headed by former Senate President Adolphus Wabara, as was previously reported.

The declaration was made during a meeting in Wike’s Life Camp house in Abuja, when Abdulrahman Muhammad, the factional Acting National Chairman, established a new Board of Trustees.

Muhammad stated that the dissolution was required to restore the party’s moral direction and constitutional order before the gathering entered a closed session.

He insisted that Wabara’s continuing 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.”

Here are some details on the recently appointed PDP factional BoT Chairman.

1. Mao Ohuabunwa was born in Port Harcourt on May 24, 1957, to Atani parents in Arochukwu, Abia State.

2. The Rivers State University of Science and Technology awarded him a degree in Applied Biology in 1982.

3. After establishing a medical laboratory, 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 for a House of Representatives position in 1998 as a member of the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), 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 Arochukwu and Ohafia constituencies.

5. Ohuabunwa led the South-East caucus and climbed 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, Defence, and Security Committee from 2001 to 2003.

7. Ohuabunwa was elected by the PDP to the Abia North senatorial seat in 2015.

8. Nevertheless, Orji Uzor Kalu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a former governor of Abia, defeated him for the 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 Chairman of the University of Port Harcourt’s Governing Council and Pro-Chancellor in July 2024.

11. In addition, the politician is an Anglican Communion Knight of Saint Christopher.

12. He had children from his marriage to Nimi Faith. July 22, 2023, was her death date.