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I will only attend convention if … ―Wike •We’ll quit if national woman leader’s position is zoned to S/South ―South-East lawmakers AHEAD of its scheduled November 15 National Elective Convention, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has appointed a 13-member committee to screen aspirants seeking election. The event will take place at the Adamasingba Stadium in Ibadan, Oyo State. Chairman of the Convention Organising Committee (NCOC), and Governor of Adamawa State, Honourable Ahmadu Fintiri, announced on Saturday that a former Ondo State PDP governorship candidate, Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, will head the screening committee. Honourable Mohammed Diri was announced as the deputy chairman, while the secretary of the committee is Asue Ighodalo, with Jacob Otorkpa deputising him. Other members of the committee are former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; former governor of Imo State, Achike Udenwa; Mrs Josephine Anenih; Hajiya Mariam Chiroma; Felix Hassan Hyat; Emmanuel Enoidem; Mrs Aduke Maina; and Zainab Maina. The screening, according to the NCOC, begins on Tuesday, next week. Sunday Tribune understands that the PDP convention will go ahead amid unresolved internal disagreements, including a pending suit before an Abuja Federal High Court seeking to stop the exercise on the grounds of alleged exclusion of some stakeholders and lack of sufficient consultations. The court, presided over by Justice James Omotosho, had fixed October 31 for its final decision on the case just two weeks before the November 15 convention date. Some stakeholders led by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike, are also demanding the reinstatement of the South-South Zonal Committee and disputed state congresses in the South-East, Cross River, Plateau, Akwa Ibom and Kebbi, as conditions for them to support the convention. In the recent weeks, two governors – Diri Douye of Bayelsa State and Peter Mbah of Enugu State – had left the party, in addition to more senators and members of the House of Representatives, abandoning the platform. While Douye, a former senator, said he resigned from the PDP and gave no specific mention of his next political party of choice, Mbah joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) outright, though some of Douye’s allies already joined the APC as well. Insiders say the decision of Douye’s allies to join the APC is a pointer to where the governor will eventually pitch his tent. In the northern region, members are divided over the decision of the majority of stakeholders to pick a former Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Turaki, SAN, as the “consensus candidate” for the position of national chairman, which was zoned to the region. Turaki emerged on Wednesday night, following a meeting of leaders and stakeholders to pick him from the North-West geopolitical zone, where the position was micro-zoned to. A day after, some members led by the outgoing National Organising Secretary of the party, Honourable Umar Bature, opposed the choice of Turaki on the claim that there was no consultation before his name was “imposed” on the zone. The PDP, however, clarified that in spite of the consensus decision, the post and all other positions remained open to all to contest on November 15. “No member of the party, who wished to contest any position, has been denied the right to do so,” the National Publicity Secretary, Honourable Debo Ologunagba, stated. PDP governors, not APC, responsible for party’s woes ―Wike Meanwhile, FCT minister, Wike, has accused the leadership of the major opposition PDP of not doing the necessary groundwork on the forthcoming PDP national convention, saying, “I will attend, but if the convention is not a proper one, I will not attend.” He also refuted claims doing rounds that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is behind the current crisis bedeviling the PDP, stating that the party’s woes are as a result of self-destruct activities of the party’s governors. The minister disclosed this on Friday during his routine monthly media parley in Abuja, insisting that PDP’s arrogance, exclusion and disregard for due process have weakened the party. He accused the governors of setting a booty trap by excluding major party stakeholders, including him from meetings, warning that such a decision would bury the party. Wike said, “Have I not said it before now that the booby trap you are setting will consume you? The way these present governors are doing, they will bury this party. “Before now, as opposition, we didn’t need to act with impunity. Look, I’m an FCT minister for Christ’s sake, forget about whatever you think. “Are you telling me as it is today, because I’m not a governor, you go and hold PDP meetings, you call them stakeholders and then you exclude me but then you want to survive? “If you think you will sideline people to hold the convention, it will not be possible. If a proper convention is to be held, I will attend, but if the convention is not a proper one, I will not attend. “Let’s assume I’m not even an FCT minister. Based on the role I played in PDP till now, do you think I should not be consulted in taking decisions of the party, simply because I’m not a governor? Certainly not. “They are the ones calling APC this and that. It’s rubbish. Is it the APC that is making you take the wrong decision? “You mean I will sit and then two, three people said because they are governors who get too much allocation. Then you go and decide, and then you tell me, follow, follow who? “When we were governors, why was it that no governor left? You see that we didn’t have problems? We fought for the chairman of the party. We’ve gone to the Supreme Court. You know that is why people didn’t leave. “If they do the right thing, will anybody stall the convention? They have not done the congresses and other things that should be in place,” he said. Wike, who described as “embarrassing” the cross-carpeting of Governor Diri of Bayelsa State, who was the chairman of the PDP convention committee, said he had already predicted that PDP governors would leave the party. “Have I not said that so many governors will leave? Is this the first time you have heard me say so? It is very embarrassing. “Diri was the Chairman of the Zoning Committee. Even though I knew from the beginning that they were all playing games. I knew from the beginning, I said it before. There is nothing I said that has not come to pass. Tell me one. This is very embarrassing. “With what is going on politically, PDP will continue to lose if there is no change. I know from the beginning that some PDP members are playing games. It is a house that has died since. PDP did not do the right thing. They should follow due process to the national convention.” South-East lawmakers threaten boycott In a related development, PDP lawmakers from the South-East geopolitical zone have also threatened to boycott the convention over alleged plot to strip the region of the current position of national woman leader in favour of South-South region. The group’s Spokesman, Hon. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, who confirmed this during a media chat in Abuja, said that they will issue a disclaimer in the next two weeks to convene their position. According to the group, the PDP national woman leader’s position which was originally zoned to the South-East with Imo State’s favoured candidate and current South-East zonal Woman Leader Mrs Ifeyinwa Arodiogbu, billed to clinch it before Governor Mbah of Enugu nominated an Enugu woman, who has now followed him to the APC, thereby giving Imo PDP a chance to clinch what rightly belong to them. They further argued that Arodiogbu was unanimously backed by South-East PDP chieftains to clinch the position before Governor Mbah allegedly took the woman leader position to Enugu. The group, however, noted that there is still time to remedy the situation before Tuesday’s next screening, saying that no elected lawmaker from South-East will remain in PDP if the impending insult is allowed to happen. “We don’t want to see PDP suffer more setbacks. Still, we will stick to our position on the Ibadan convention if, in the next few weeks, the position of national woman leader is not ceded expressly to Imo State and an Imo person allowed to emerge. “Now that Governor Mbah has left for APC, that earlier arrangement of producing a woman leader is not going to stand because Governor Mbah’s woman leader nominee is also in APC with him. “Now, this brings back a chance for the injustice to be addressed and for Imo State to produce the national woman leader.” No plan to leave PDP, says Ortom Meanwhile, the immediate past Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, has assured his supporters in the PDP that he has no intention of leaving the party. He stated that the party will unite to reclaim power in the state in 2027. Ortom made this assurance in Makurdi over the weekend while hosting members of the PDP G-14 and other stakeholders from the 14 local government areas in the Benue North-East and Benue North-West senatorial districts. According to him, “All the insinuations about me defecting are nothing but the work of mischief-makers. Let me assure you that there is nothing like that. Rather, we are going to work together and reclaim power in this state by 2027.” The former governor urged stakeholders to remain committed to rebuilding the party and assured them of his continued support. He reiterated that he will not run for any elective positions in 2027 but promised to stand firmly behind the party’s candidates to ensure their success. He encouraged all PDP aspirants to consult widely and remain undeterred by the wave of defections to the ruling party. In his remarks, leader of the PDP G-14, Dr Laha Dzever, expressed his continued support and loyalty to Ortom, praising what he described as his purposeful leadership. Other speakers at the event included the State Deputy Chairman of the PDP, Hon. Azua Ashongo; Ambassador Chive Kaave and Senator Fred Orti, who represented the Benue North-East and Benue North-West senatorial districts. They assured Ortom of their commitment to aligning with his plans to return the party to power and promote development. The meeting was also attended by serving and former members of the PDP National Executive Committee, past members of the Board of Trustees, local government party chairpersons, national delegates, former aspirants, former government appointees, former council chairpersons, National Assembly aspirants, members of the State Working Committee, and other party officials and stakeholders.
