National convention: PDP committee shifts decision on zoning

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) zoning committee on Thursday shifted the decision on the zoning of the party’s leadership positions across the six geopolitical zones in the country till next week.

The PDP will hold its elective national convention on October 31 in Abuja.

The Chairman of the committee, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, who briefed journalists at the end team’s six hours meeting which ended a few minutes ago in Enugu, said the committee resolved to meet next week to conclude its assignment.

He said: “We had a fruitful meeting and we adjourned to conclude next week.”

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The meeting was attended by the Governor of Benue State, Dr. Samuel Ortom; the Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, Mahdi Aliyu; and former Senate Presidents, Iyorchia Ayu, and Anyim Pius Anyim.

Others were former governors – Muazu Aliyu Babangida (Niger), Ayodele Fayose (Ekiti), Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), and Boni Haruna (Adamawa), among others.

The PDP governors and other party stakeholders had a few weeks ago agreed to form a 44-member committee to determine the criteria for zoning the National Working Committee (NWC) positions and give the party a new direction ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Meanwhile, The PDP National Convention Committee on Thursday in Abuja inaugurated 15 sub-committees for its National Convention Scheduled for 30 and 31 October.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the sub-committees as read by Governor Diri Duoye of Bayelsa State include the National Convention Organising Committee, chaired by Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State.

Others are the Constitutional Amendment Committee, chaired by Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa-lbom; Zoning Committee chaired by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State; Screening Committee, chaired by former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke.

Sub-committees and their chairmen also inaugurated were Screening Appeal Committee — former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Special Duties Committee — Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State; Accreditation Committee — Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State; and Security Committee — former Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase.

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The Electoral (statutory) Committee, with Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa as the chairman; Publicity Committee chaired by Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State and Venue Committee, chaired by Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State are also among them.

Others include Welfare and Entertainment Committee with Mariya Waziri as chairperson; Transportation Committee with former Gombe State governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo as Chairman; and Contact and Mobilization Committee with Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State as Chairman.

The rest are: Protocol Committee with Biodun Olujimi, the Ekiti South senator as chairperson; the Medical Committee — Nuhu Zagbayi; and the Secretariat Committee — Umaru Ibrahim Tsauri, PDP national secretary.

Inaugurating the sub-committees, Mr Fintiri expressed belief that the October convention would be successful and lead PDP to victory in 2023.

He said the leaders and members of the sub-committees were carefully selected to organise a credible convention for the party.

The Adamawa governor urged them to make the necessary sacrifices to deliver the best convention to the party.

Fielding questions from journalists after the inauguration, Mr Fintiri said that by PDP’s new constitution, over 6,000 delegates were expected at the convention.

“We are fully prepared for that. We are expecting everybody in every ward that is a delegate to attend the convention,” he said.

He said the sub-committee had been given directions and they were expected to go back, adequately prepare and submit their report to the main committee for approval.

On the part of the party’s constitution that may be amended, Mr Fintiri said he could not pre-empt the constitution sub-committee, but allow them to do their job.

On how far the zoning committee had gone after the one-week appeal he gave them last week, the governor said the committee was in a meeting in Enugu carrying out its responsibilities.

“You can see the party is working, and it is a turning point for all of us,” Mr Fintiri said.

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