Ninety-two
aspirants have signified their intention to run for 23 offices in the
Saturday’s national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Some of the offices to be contested
are national chairman, deputy national chairman (South), deputy national
chairman (North), secretary, deputy national secretary, national
legal adviser, deputy national legal adviser, national organizing
secretary, national youth leader, and national publicity secretary.
A list of the aspirants obtained by one of our correspondents in Abuja on
Thursday night showed that nine of the aspirants were running for the office of
the national chairman.
The aspirants are Uche Secondus, Gbenga
Daniel, Jimi Agbaje, Rashidi Ladoja, Taoheed Adedoja, Tunde Adeniran, Olabode
George, Raymond Dokpesi and Aderemi Olusegun.
All the chairmanship aspirants had
been screened by a screening panel headed by a former governorship candidate of
the party in Edo State, Mr. Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
The screening took place at the
Presidential Campaign office of the party, popularly known as Legacy Building,
which is located at Maitama District in Abuja.
Seven out of the nine aspirants are
from the South-West. Secondus and Dokpesi are from the South-South.
There were surprises on the list of
those competing for the position of Deputy National Chairman (South), as some
names from the South-West featured prominently on the list.
They are a former Deputy Governor of
Oyo State, Alhaji Hazeem Gbolarumi, and a former Minister of Solid Minerals,
Chief Sarafa Isola.
Also in the race for the office of
the deputy national chairman are Yemi Akinwonmi, Adisa Oladapo and Sterling
Ellis.
Six candidates are vying for the position of the deputy national chairman
(North).
They are a former Minister of Women
Affairs, Hajia Inna Ciroma; Alhaji Musa Usman, Nuhu Poloma, Senator Babayo
Garmawa, Bala Ilela and Abdulmalik Mahmud.
Aspirants for the position of NPS are
a former Minister of National Planning, Prof. Abubakar Suleiman;
Faruk Adejoh-Audu, Mohammed Usman, Kola Ologbodiyan and Ben Duntoye.
Only three people are however vying
for the position of National Organising Secretary.
They are Emeka Donald, Godwin Duru
and Austin Akobundu.
Meanwhile, 11 governors elected on
the platform of the party are said to be angry with the reported move of a
former military dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, to impose his front as the
chairman of the party.
Babangida, who is being accused of
contributing nothing to the party when it was in crisis, is alleged to be
attempting to impose a candidate on the party as its national chairman.
A governor, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said rather than help in building the party, Babangida had been
holding clandestine meetings aimed at disorganising the party.
The source said, “He wants to impose
someone on the party because he has a candidate for the presidential slot of
the party in 2019. We won’t agree to that.
“He has not identified with us. We
didn’t see him during our trying times and all that. Now, because he has seen
that there is a prospect for the party in 2019, he wants to plant his stooge
here. It will fail.”
Also, aggrieved members of the party
from Anambra State besieged the party’s secretariat in Abuja on Thursday
protesting alleged acts of irregularities.
A former National Publicity Secretary
of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, who arrived at the party’s national
secretariat with some PDP stakeholders in Anambra State, alleged that the list
of delegates, sent from the state, had been fraudulently altered.
They accused a national officer of
the party of being the brains behind the action and specifically urged the
national leadership of the PDP to be wary of the said fake list by rejecting
it.
The stakeholders made their position
known in a communique at the end of a meeting on Wednesday night in Abuja,
which they submitted to the Chairman of the PDP National Caretaker Committee,
Senator Ahmed Makarfi.
Signatories to the communique include
Metuh, Chris Ubah and Okey Ezenwa.
Another group of protesters equally
submitted a petition to the national caretaker committee asking it to disqualify
one of the aspirants for the position of the NOS.
The petition, which was signed by
Onyebuchi Nwosu, alleged that the aspirant had engaged in acts of
misappropriation and misconduct in running the party affairs in the past.
I’m
ready for convention –Adeniran
Meanwhile, at a press briefing in
Abuja, Adeniran declared that he was satisfied with responses to his petitions
ahead of the convention, adding that he was ready for the convention.
Speaking through the director-general
of his campaign organisation, Shehu Gabam, Adeniran said the governors elected
on the platform of the party had agreed that the election would be transparent.
“We don’t have much to complain
about. Most issues have been taken care of. We raised issues on the
chairmanship of the electoral committee and the party responded. We now want to
allow everything to lie,” he said.
Don’t
elect aspirants on corruption trial Kashamu
Ahead of Saturday’s national
convention of the Peoples Democratic Party, the Senator representing Ogun East
Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Buruji Kashamu, has called on
delegates, leaders and stakeholders of the party not to elect any aspirants
undergoing corruption trial.
He said the delegates should discard
anyone being tried for corruption by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, stressing that the anti-corruption agency was also planning to
re-arrest some aspirants accused of corruption.
In a statement in Abuja on Thursday,
Kashamu said, “While it is true that an accused person is presumed innocent
until proven guilty, our great party cannot afford to close its eyes to this
potential threat.
“It is a no-brainer that if a
national chairman with a corruption case is elected, the party will literally
be put on trial with him.
“This is one avoidable risk that is
too much to take. You can be sure that a corruption trial of the national
chairman of an opposition party will come with a lot of bad publicity that will
sound the death knell for the party.”
Kashamu urged the delegates and
stakeholders, especially those from the South-East, to support the quest of the
South-West to produce the national chairman in the interest of equity and
justice.
While calling on the South-East to
learn from the Northern Elders Forum in supporting the South-West in its aspiration,
Kashamu said, “Our brothers and sisters from the South-East need to be
categorical now in support of the South-West on the ongoing national
chairmanship tussle between the South-West and the South-South.
”The implication of this avoidable
tussle is to make uncertain the settled South-East vice-presidential quest in
2019. If the South-East expectedly takes a principled stance in support of the
South-West, naturally as a reliable race in adhering to agreements, the Yoruba
people will reciprocate without any prompting.
“What is currently happening is
glaringly an orchestrated assault on the South-West to end up with nothing in
2019, just like we did when our party was in power. This is a dangerously
illogical political permutation for 2019 national elections.”
Although the lawmaker acknowledged
the right of others to seek election, he was of the view that it should not be
done at the expense of established norms and agreements.
“It was because of this that the
other positions zoned to the South-West are innocuous deputies to substantive
offices except the National Treasurer.
“All these are because the vital
national chairmanship had already been conceded to the South-West.’’
Losers
must accept defeat, says Mark
A former President of the Senate,
Senator David Mark, has told delegates to the Saturday’s PDP elective national
convention to allow the will of the people to prevail and restore the dignity
of the party.
Mark, in a message to the delegates,
urged them to shun imposition of candidates and impunity, which he said, ruined
the chances of the party in the previous elections.
“I am sure we have learnt some useful
lessons from our electoral misfortune in 2015. We now have the opportunity to
right the wrongs of the past by allowing the will of the people to prevail at
the convention.”
Atiku
visits Minna, meets ex-dictator, Babangida
Ahead of the PDP national convention
on Saturday, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar visited Minna, the Niger
State capital, on Thursday.
Atiku, who recently resigned his
membership of the All Progressives Congress before returning to the PDP on
Sunday, arrived in Minna in his private aircraft marked T 7 AAA at about
12.25pm.
He was received at the Minna
International Airport by the Niger State Deputy Governor, Ahmed Ketso, and a
team of PDP leaders in the state.
Some of the PDP leaders, who came to
welcome Atiku were the immediate past governor, Babangida Aliyu; state chairman
of the PDP, Tanko Beji; his deputy, Aminu Yussuf; Senator Shem Zagbayi and the
State Secretary of the party, Umar Santali.
The former vice-president drove to
the Minna residence of a former military dictator, Gen Ibrahim Babangida, where
he met with his host behind closed doors with only ex-governor Aliyu allowed to
be part of the meeting which started at about 12.45pm.
Ketso, the Niger State deputy
governor, an APC member, left the residence of the former dictator when the
meeting between the trio started.
The meeting lasted for about three
hours before Atiku left for Abuja through the Minna airport declining to speak
to newsmen.
Meanwhile, it was learnt on Thursday
that the former Vice-President was set to formally declare for 2019
presidential election after the PDP national convention.
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