Ahead of the Kwara State Congress of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scheduled for tomorrow, no fewer than five aspirants have indicated interest in the position of chairman, investigations by Daily Trust have shown.

The position was left vacant recently following the defection of former chairman, Alhaji Ishola Balogun-Fulani to the All Progressives Congress (APC) with former Governor Bukola Saraki and their supporters.

The PDP appointed a caretaker chairman,  Solomon Edoja from Delta State to man the affairs of the party pending the election of a substantive chairman.

With the state congress scheduled for Tuesday, it was gathered that there has been intense lobby by the five aspirants eyeing the position.

Those in the race, according to inside sources, are a 72-year old party chieftain who recently decamped from the defunct Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Alhaji Abdulkadir Manko, state interim publicity secretary of the party, Alhaji Mohammed Mariam Alhassan, former chairman Kaiama local government area, Alhaji Inuwa Musa Kallah, former chieftain of APC, Rev. Bunmi Olusona and former chairman , Offa local government,  Mr Segun Olawoyin who are all members of the party.

While three candidates are from the Kwara North senatorial district, two others are from the Kwara South but there are indications that the position may be ceded to Kwara North which produced the chairman for the party six years ago.

However, while two aspirants from Kwara north, Alh. Kallah and Alh Manko recently defected to the PDP, the odds may favour Alhassan going by the guidelines of the party which stipulates that a member must be registered for at least 24 calendar months to be qualified for nomination or election.

Daily Trust also gathered notwithstanding the lobby for the ceding of the position to Kwara North, the other Senatorial districts are also leaving no stone unturned to take the chairmanship slot.