Politics

Reject Proposal On Zoning To Save PDP, Leaders’ Forum Tells NEC

Published

4 years ago

October 5, 2021

The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been urged to reject the zoning arrangement as proposed by the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi-led committee.

A group, the PDP National Leaders Forum, in a statement by its convener and a chieftain of the party from Ogun state, Reverend Olusola Salau, Tuesday, called on the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party which meets on Thursday to jettison what it described as the self-serving proposal and maintain the status quo.

The statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, noted that the composition of the Zoning Committee of the party was faulty for the reason that it was lopsided and deliberately skewed to satisfy the interest of a section of the party.

“For instance, Benue State has five representatives while Osun has no single representative. Even when that observation was raised at the meeting, a certain Governor from the South South bullied everybody to ignore something as fundamental as that,” Salau said.

The statement also raised the allegation that some members of the committee used the opportunity to serve on the committee to oil their political scheming at the detriment of the party.

“We have it on good authority that one member of the committee who is a Governor in a South-South state was busy offering monetary inducements to sway other members from toeing the logical path. We know who this Governor is and we are aware that he is nursing a presidential ambition. We do not have any objection to his ambition. However, we will not accept a process that will make anyone fetch the presidential ticket of our great party through a manipulative process,” the statement added.

Also, the group described the procedure by which the zoning committee rendered its report as “obnoxious and not known to the established pattern of how similar previous reports are presented in the party.

“The report is self-serving, ridiculous and embarrassing because the PDP NEC empowered and mandated the committee to recommend zoning of party offices. The normal practice is that the report must first be laid before the NEC for consideration and the party will then approve and announce final ratification just like the Governor Bala-led fact finding committee on the 2019 presidential election.

“Its report was laid before the NEC and approved. But in this case, the Governors and zoning committee acted in bad faith and if care is not taken the party will pay dearly for it in 2023,” the group posited.

Another area of objection which the group cited is that the current zoning arrangement in the PDP stipulates that the National Chairman’s position is supposed to remain in the South.

Therefore, “must we punish the South alongside the outgoing chairman? Why is the committee in a hurry to throw away the baby with the bath water?

“For the avoidance of doubt there have been two zoning arrangements in the history of the PDP: one in 2007 and the other in 2017 which was to lapse in 2025. This arrangement gave the south the privilege to produce the national chairmanship of the party till 2025.

“If there were to be any zoning, it should be amongst the three zones of the South and, in that case, the Southwest that has never attained the position of the PDP National Chairman is more deserving of the position. This is even more so that the next two governorship elections before the 2023 general election will be in Osun and Ekiti. Thus, what will the PDP take to the Southwest to enable the zone to give our party a deserving victory in those two crucial elections?”

The group continues, “The PDP has a pedigree of being the only political party in Nigeria that comes to intervene when the country is at a boiling point as it is today. Be it at the time that the country was transitioning from military junta to civilian rule or when the country was burdened with a leadership vacuum that necessitated the doctrine of necessity, the PDP has always been the party that steers the country off the cliffs.

“This time around, Nigeria needs the PDP to come to its rescue once again. Our party needs to put someone with capacity and experience forward to do this job – not some characters that can’t even put the national interest ahead of their political ambition in a simple party assignment.

“We believe that Nigeria has never been this divided and broken and it is expedient on the principle of natural priority that another person from the North, who is more qualified and experienced should be our party’s candidate for the job to get Nigeria fixed.

“It is not the responsibility of the PDP to toe the line of ethic divisiveness that our main opponents are known for. Ours is a party built on principles and mutual respect for all shades of Nigerians.

“It is on this note that we humbly demand that the National Executive Committee of our great party reject in its entirety the submissions of the zoning committee. Zoning arrangement is a responsibility of the highest decision making organ of the party, not some self-serving governors and their cohorts.”

Politics

PDP Issues Certificate Of Expulsion To Wike, Fayose, Anyanwu, Others

Published

3 hours ago

December 3, 2025

Editor

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it has issued certificate of expulsion from the party to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and other 10 members earlier expelled from the party.

The party National Chairman, Tanimu Turaki, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen after the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

The other members, according to him, include the embattled National Secretary, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu, the Legal Adviser, Kamarudeen Ajibade, former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose.

They also included Sen. Mao Ohuabunwa, Austin Nwachukwu, Abraham Amah Nnanna, George Turna and Chief Dan Orbih, expelled during the party National convention in Lagos.

Turaki said that the original copies of the certificate had been dispatched to the owners through a courier service to serve as proof that they were expelled from the PDP.

“We have taken note of the fact that Nigerian law frowns on dual membership of political parties, and so we have sought to make it easy for them.

“Now that they are no longer members of our party, and now that the National Convention, which is the highest decision-making organ of our party, has expelled them, we have decided to issue them certificates of expulsion.

“So, when they go to register with other political parties in Nigeria, they will show these certificates as proof that they are no longer members of the PDP.

“By that, those parties will not accuse them of trying to belong to more than one political party,” he said.

He called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies, including the Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services, and other government agencies, to take note.

“Very soon, members of the society will be informed via proper disclaimers that any person henceforth who decides to do business with them, any or all of them, does so at his or her own risk.

“They are no longer members of the PDP. They have been expelled,” he added.

He added that the NWC also reviewed some of the cases filed against the party and lawsuits instituted by the party, particularly the one that related to the “unlawful and illegal” closure of the party’s national Secretariat, the Legacy House, and the Wadata Plaza.

“The brief we received from our lawyers is that we are on sound ground, and that very soon, the law will take its course,” he said.

Turaki said the NWC was prepared to be saddled with the responsibility of performing its functions as the leading opposition party in Nigeria.

“We are going to provide a credible alternative to Nigerians. We are going to provide credible leadership to Nigerians by the special grace of God from 2027,” he said.

Politics

Adebayo Adedamola Wins Osun PDP Governorship Primary

Published

1 day ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Adebayo Olugbenga Adedamola, popularly known as FRYO, has emerged as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for the August 8, 2026 governorship election in Osun State.

The primary election took place in Osogbo on Tuesday amid heavy security presence.

Announcing the result, chairman of the primary election committee, Humphrey Abba, stated that Adebayo secured 919 votes out of 957 accredited ballots, giving him a clear victory in the contest.

Explaining that there were 20 void votes following the withdrawal of one of the candidates, believed to be Governor Ademola Adeleke, Abba added, “The candidate that got the remaining votes is Adebayo Adedamola with 919 votes and he stands elected and returned.”

DAILY POST reports that despite announcing his resignation from the party, Adeleke’s name appeared on the ballot paper for the PDP governorship primary.

Party officials said the exercise was conducted in accordance with established guidelines, with accredited delegates participating in the voting process.

Adeleke announced his resignation in a letter dated November 4, 2025, and addressed to the PDP leadership at his ward.

On Monday, Osun PDP chairman, Sunday Bisi, had announced that the governorship primary slated for Tuesday, December 2, 2025, has been postponed due to leadership crisis at the national level.

But a faction of the party went ahead with the exercise in Osogbo on Tuesday.

Politics

Gov Adeleke Resigns From PDP

Published

2 days ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2026 gubernatorial primaries of the party.

Adeleke’s resignation letter, dated November 4, 2025, sighted by Tribune Online was addressed to the PDP ward chairman for Ward 2, Sagba Abogunde, Ede, Osun State.

According to the letter, the governor’s resignation was based on “the current crisis of the national leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).”

According to the letter, titled: “Resignation of my membership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’ read, “Due to the current crisis of the national leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), I hereby resign my Membership of the People’s Democratic Party with immediate effect.

“I thank the People’s Democratic Party for the opportunities given to me for my elections as a Senator (Represented Osun West) and as Governor of Osun State under the People’s Democratic Party.”