Politics

Why PDP National Zoning Committee Meeting Ended In Deadlock Revealed

Published

3 years ago

September 26, 2021

Editor

Facts have emerged on why the meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) National Convention Committee on Zoning, held in Enugu, last Thursday, ended in a stalemate.

Recall that the Chairman of the Committee and Governor of Enugu State, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, after the closed-door meeting, told newsmen that they adjourned to conclude this week, adding that “we had a fruitful meeting”.

Speaking further on what transpired at the meeting, a member of the committee, who does not want his name to be mentioned, disclosed that the adjournment of the meeting was because there was a sharp division among members of the committee as they could not reach a definite decision on where the next national chairman of the party, currently occupied by the Southern part of the country, should emerge from during the October 30-31 National Convention.

Consequently, the member revealed that the committee adjourned till this week to consult further with other relevant stakeholders in the Party, especially the PDP Governors’ Forum and the Board of Trustees (BOT).

According to the member, while some members of the committee wanted the South to retain it with the hope that doing so will pave way for the presidential candidate of the party to come from the North, others canvassed that the North should produce the next national chairman in the spirit of the four-year rotational agreement in the party.

It was further revealed that two groups emerged from within and outside the zoning committee with both disagreeing on where the next national chairman should come from.

The first group, the ‘Maintain the Status Quo Group’, wanted all the party offices retained on the geographical side to which they presently are.

However, the second group, the ‘Move Around Group’, wanted all the positions presently in the South to be transferred to the North while the ones in the North should move southward.

By the calculation of the ‘Maintain the Status Quo Group’, the chairmanship of the party will be retained in the South while the national secretary will move to the North.

However, the ‘Move Around Group’ wanted the next chairman of PDP to emerge from the North while the South produces the secretary.

Also, while the ‘Move Around Group’ believed that zoning the chairman’s position to the North will make the presidential ticket to be automatically zoned to the South, they continued to insist that the issue at hand now is party position and when the party gets to the point where it has to nominate the presidential flagbearer, the matter will be resolved.

However, the ‘Maintain the Status Quo Group’ believed that the zoning committee should also adopt the position of the Bala Mohammed Committee which reviewed the performance of the party in the 2019 general election. It wanted thepresidential ticket of the party thrown open for aspirants from all the six zones.

Former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim led the ‘Move Around Group’ with the support of some elements in the South-South and South-East zones. The ‘Maintain the Status Quo Group’ is led by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo and has the buy-in of key leaders of the party across South-West and the three zones in the North.

Earlier in his welcome address, Gov. Ugwuanyi clarified that the committee has no mandate to zone political offices such as president or vice president.

The governor explained that “our committee is strictly limited to the PDP national executive offices to be contested at the 2021 PDP National Convention scheduled for the end of October 2021”, stressing: “We have no mandate to zone political offices such as president or vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.

Gov. Ugwuanyi maintained that the PDP remains the most credible platform to deliver good and accountable governance to Nigeria, adding that the work of the committee will contribute immensely “in this deliberate search for national officers of our party that will help PDP achieve the lofty ideals and goals of our founding fathers”.

He, therefore, encouraged members of the committee to be frank, open and constructive in their proposals and debates, and also exhibit consistency with the enormity of their mandate.

“The membership and leadership of this committee have been carefully selected as it is composed of very experienced, competent and eminent Nigerians who are desirous of repositioning the PDP to play its role not just as the main opposition political party in Nigeria but to build a party that offers alternative policy proposals and hope to Nigerians that there is still light at the end of the tunnel”, Gov. Ugwuanyi said.

Members of the committee present at the meeting included the governor of Benue State, Dr. Samuel Ortom, whois the Deputy Chairman; the Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, Barr. Mahdi Aliyu Mohammed, who serves as secretary; former Presidents of the Senate, Senators Iyorchia Ayu and Anyim Pius Anyim; and former governors of Niger, Ekiti, Sokoto, Jigawa and Adamawa states, Dr. Muazu Aliyu Babangida, Ayodele Fayose, Attahiru Bafarawa, Sule Lamido, and Boni Haruna, respectively.

Also in the meeting were Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, Rt. Hon. Sunday K. E Okoye, Chief Dan Orbih, Chief (Dr.) Ali Odefa, Amb. (Mrs.) Kema Chikwe, Chief Osita Chidoka, Chidi Lloyd, Senator Bassey Ewa Henshaw, Senator Emmanuel Nwaka, Engr. Donatus Udeh, among others.

Related Topics:PDP Convention PDP zoning

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Politics

Poll: APC Has No Sellable Candidate, Nothing To Campaign On – Edo Govt

Published

1 day ago

May 13, 2024

Editor

The Edo State Government claimed on Monday that the All Progressives Congress, APC, has no credible candidate for the September 21 governorship election.

This was an assertion made by the Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, at a press conference in Benin City.

Nehikhare also alleged that the party is using lies and propaganda as its campaign strategy.

According to him: “The only APC strategy for the governorship election is to resort to lies and propaganda. When a party takes lies and propaganda as an election strategy, it means it has nothing to offer the people. The party lacks people with character, capacity, and intellect.”

The commissioner who took journalists through a screened shot WhatsApp chat said: “What we have here is the official APC WhatsApp platform, their own people screenshot their discussion. One of them who has a conscience asks, is this the only thing we have?”

Nehikhare, who said APC is ashamed to campaign for its candidate, noted that, as of today, nobody had heard of what the party has for the state.

“All we heard is how they are going to help their paymaster, lies and propaganda that will not help the state,” he added.

He opined that lies and propaganda are not strategies the opposition party, like APC, can use to win the September 21 governorship election.

The commissioner, who warned against misinformation and fake news ahead of the governorship election, urged media practitioners to be neutral in matters concerning lies and propaganda.

He, however, noted that Governor Godwin Obaseki’s administration has a lot of achievements to market and sell its candidate for the election.

Politics

Defection: Edo Govt, Ex-PDP BoT Member, Idahosa In Verbal War

Published

1 day ago

May 13, 2024

Editor

Edo State government and a former member of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Board of Trustees, Charles Idahosa, on Monday traded words over the latter defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Recall that Idahosa resigned
formally resigned who had last month resigned from PDP, rejoined the APC on Monday in Benin City.

Speaking during his formal presentation to the APC in Benin City, he noted that he left the party four years ago due to internal crisis.

Idahosa added that he dumped the PDP because of what he described as the “damning deeds of the Obaseki-led administration in the last four years”.

He took a swipe at Obaseki for saying that PDP would win the forthcoming September governorship election with 80 per cent of votes.

“I thank God, four years later we all are wiser now. Like the Secretary said, I was a founding member of ACD, ACN and APC. The damage we did four years ago, the APC never remained the same.

“But I am glad we are back to the family. I was nominated to the Board of the Railway when I was in the APC. When I moved to the PDP, I wrote to resign my membership but it was rejected and showed my wide acceptance.

“At 71, I am not here to contest position with anybody, I am here to work. I want to urge APC to keep their eyes on the ball. It is not over until it is over.”

While lambasting Governor Obaseki for his comment that those leaving PDP have been given money, he noted that his greatest regret was not allowing the governor to resign after his first four years in office.

“When he came to beg me like a weather beaten chicken, how much did he give to me? Anytime he goes religious gathering he would say those leaving PDP have been given money.

“He came to me three times in my house to say he wants to resign, that he was tired of being governor but I appealed to him, telling him it was not about him but Benin interest.”

But in a swift reaction, the state Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare alleged that Idahosa was never a PDP member.

Nehikhare noted that Idahosa was also never a BOT member of the party, because the party in the state rejected his nomination.

He alleged that it was as a result of the rejection that he found his way back to APC.

“I heard that he claimed to be a member of BOT of PDP but I want to challenge him to tell us when he was sworn in as a member of PDP BOT. He was not a fit and proper person. Even though he was nominated he was shunned by the party.

“It was this that drove him back to APC which he never left in the first place. He was holding on to the board appointment which was offered him while in APC prior to 2020 governorship election.

“He has reached the end of his political career. He has nothing to offer any political party or any group he joins because he believes in bread and butter politics,” Nehikhare said.

Politics

Edo Guber: Ex-PDP BoT Member Joins APC, Says ‘I Regret Supporting Obaseki

Published

1 day ago

May 13, 2024

Editor

A former member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Charles Idahosa on Monday defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying he regretted supporting Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki four-year ago.

Idahosa said his greatest regret is stopping Governor Godwin Obaseki from resigning in 2020 after he was frustrated out of the APC in his bid to seek reelection on the party’s platform.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after his declaration for the APC at his residence in Benin City, with leaders of the APC in attendance, Idahosa said his return to the APC is homecoming.

The former Information Commissioner in Edo State said in 2020, the governor had cried to him over the ill -treatment meted on him by his predecessor and National chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole and was considering resigning.

Idahosa noted that Obaseki was at the verge of giving up to allow the APC to pick another governorship candidate, but he (Idahosa) encouraged him to keep hope alive and he personally fought the battle for the governor to win his reelection .

Idahosa, however, lamented that Obaseki utterances during the inauguration of the PDP Campaign Council for the 2024 election was heartless and uncomplimentary when he accused the defectors from PDP as having received huge sums of money before their defection.

The former BoT member of the PDP, while urging the Edo APC leadership to work in synergy ahead of the governorship election, said that the greatest misfortune to befall the APC is for Godwin Obaseki to install a successor.

Idahosa who pledged his support for the governorship candidate of the APC, Senator Monday Okphebholo, said street survival instinct not doctoral degrees (PhD) or big grammar is needed as a criteria for the next governor that will succeed Obaseki.

He urged Edo people and the APC to put the damning deeds of the Obaseki-led government of 4 years ago in the past and unite to stop the governor and the PDP governorship candidate from taking over the governance of the state in the September 21st governorship election.

He said, “Four years later, we are all wiser. I am back to the APC, which is my family. It is homecoming for me and I am very comfortable. At 71 , I am not going to be a threat to anybody. I am joing the APC to work. Nobody should be afraid or scared that Charles Idahosa is joining the APC because I won’t be contesting any position. “

Earlier, the APC state secretary, Lawrence Okah, while receiving Idahosa into the party, said the former member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Charles Idahosa is a man of honour and a foundation member of the APC.