I can say with almost 100% certainty that he was. The only reason he may not have been as he often does not log in for days at a time. The decision needed to be made quickly as the GM's did not want the NT to be left in limbo for days on end. So if Ocho did not log in he may have missed his chance...
Going to close this thread as it is clearly going nowhere. "Z" is the NT manager and a good choice at that.