Attempts
by the Peoples Democratic Party to reinvent itself as a formidable platform
continued to reverberate across the country at the weekend as members braced
for the May 21 national convention, which promises tough decisions that could
strengthen or further weaken the erstwhile ruling party.
National
officers who would run the affairs of the party for the next four years will be
elected at the convention. And interests in the various geopolitical zones are
trying to position themselves well for the coveted post of national chairman,
with those from the South making the strongest moves.
THISDAY
learnt that many influential stakeholders of PDP are favourably disposed to
zoning the seat of national chairman to the South. This is in view of the fact
that the party is likely to zone its presidential position to the North in
2019, as recommended by the Senator Ike Ekweremadu- led 2015 post-election
panel.
But
some members from the northern zones argue that taking the headship of the
party away from the North, where PDP controls only two of the 19 states, to the
South would portray PDP as a southern party. They also insist that the proposed
emergence of the presidential candidate of the party from the North would not
really affect the chairmanship post, as the chairman would be on the last lap
of his tenure at the time of the 2019 presidential primaries.
With
five of its six states under PDP control, South-south, the zone of Bayelsa-born
former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who lost to President Muhammadu Buhari
at the last general election, currently has the highest number of PDP
governors. Those disposed to zoning the chairmanship to South-south say apart
from representing the loudest voice for the party at present, the zone also
provides the biggest funding for the party.
South-south
man and PDP deputy national chairman, Chief Uche Secondus, who had been serving
as acting national chairman, last month handed over to Borno State Governor,
Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, following his ratification as substantive chairman.
Some party leaders feel the zone that is providing the strongest pillar of
support for PDP should be compensated with the chairmanship post.
South-east
has the second highest number of PDP governors, with three of the zone’s five
states controlled by the party. Party members there, too, are struggling for
the national chairmanship post. Two former national chairmen of the party – Dr.
Okwesilieze Nwodo and Chief Vincent Ogbulafor – are from the South-east.
The
South-west is also making out a strong case for the chairmanship. The argument
here is that the zone, which has two PDP governors, has never produced a
national chairman of the party since 1999. Besides, the chairman of the PDP
Governors Forum, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, and the man currently
regarded as the loudest voice of the party in the South, Ekiti State Governor
Ayo Fayose, are from the South-west. But sources within the party say power
struggle between the two most prominent leaders of PDP in the South-west may cost
the zone the coveted position.
Though,
the scrambling to secure the chair of the leading opposition party is more
intense in the South for the obvious reason of the zoning arrangement, which
PDP members are still keeping secret, the North is not left out of the
struggle. Party insiders say there is a groundswell of opinion in the North
that the region should retain the national chairmanship post, currently held by
Sheriff from the North-east, to give the people a sense of belonging and
curtail a growing impression that PDP is a southern party.
The
North-east states of Gombe and Taraba are the only PDP states in the North, but
many in the North think that retaining the post of national chairman there may
isolate the other zones in the region, giving Buhari and his All Progressives
Congress unfettered hold on the North.
PDP
had during its 69th National Executive Committee meeting on Monday in Abuja
approved the timetable for its congresses and national convention. The
congresses will commence on April 23 and culminate in the national convention,
scheduled to hold on May 21 in Port Harcourt. The NEC also approved the setting
up of four special committees to prepare for the national convention, namely,
the National Convention Committee, Reconciliation Committee, Zoning Committee,
and Finance Committee.
The
crucial field of struggle at the moment ahead of the national convention,
findings reveal, is the convention committees, which are expected to play a key
role in the emergence of the new national officers. The convention and zoning
committees are being considered as most strategic, fuelling a frantic struggle
to fill the two committees. The party is said to be in a state of great
agitation over the modalities for choosing members of the committees.
But
nearly every prominent leader of PDP is playing his cards close to his chest on
the zoning matter. The deputy senate president, Ekweremadu, said in a statement
on Friday by his special adviser on media, Mr. Uche Anichukwu, that there was
not secret zoning arrangement, stressing that the party would announce its
zoning plan at an appropriate time.
The
statement added, “The PDP will soon convene a meeting of the relevant
stakeholders and organs of the party as stipulated by our constitution to come
up with a clear zoning of the national offices of the party in a transparent,
democratic, and fair manner.”
Source: Thisday Newspaper
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