World Bulletin / News Desk

The chairman of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), which has ruled Nigeria since 1999, has resigned, weeks after the party lost general elections.

"I can confirm that we have received the resignation of National Chairman Alhaji Adamu Mu'azu," Olisa Metuh, the PDP's national publicly secretary, told reporters on Wednesday evening.

"I can confirm that the chairman, who had health challenges, stayed on for the primaries, the campaigns and the elections, and after consultations with his family, and in his personal interest, he decided to resign," said Metuh.

The spokesman added that the party's deputy national chairman, Uche Secondus, had been asked to act as PDP chairman pending the election of another top politician from Nigeria's northeast – from which Mu'azu hails – to succeed him.

PDP chiefs have been locked in a bitter fight since the historic defeat of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan to opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari in March presidential polls.

Party leaders have blamed one another for the crushing defeat, which was the first time in Nigeria's political history for an incumbent president to be beaten in a presidential contest.

Mu'azu's exit may be followed by mass resignations by members of the PDP's National Working Committee.

The committee has been in the eye of the storm since the party lost its majority in both houses of parliament and conceded several governorships to Buhari's All Progressive Congress (APC).

The PDP currently controls a paltry 13 out of Nigeria's 36 states, down from 22 before the elections.

The APC, for its part, now controls 22 states.

The fringe All Progressive Grand Alliance, meanwhile, controls Anambra State.