Senator Dr. Iyorchia Ayu

Dr. Iyorchia Ayu is the current Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).  He was elected President of the Senate during the Nigerian Third Republic (1992–1993). He later served in various Ministerial positions in the Cabinet of former President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007.

Dr. Ayu was born in Gboko in Benue State. He taught sociology in the University of Jos in Plateau State, including courses on the art and science of Marxism, and was the Chairman of the Jos University chapter of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

He became the Minister for Education in General Sani Abacha’s military government, and in March 1994 he chaired a workshop on Technical Education in Nigeria, seeking ways to learn from Germany, the United States, Britain and Japan.