National Convention: PDP to allow consensus candidates

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said it will allow consensus candidates for different positions at its October 30 and 31 National Convention fixed for Abuja.

The Chairman of the 2021 National Convention Organising Committee and Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Fintiri, stated this Friday after the inauguration of the committee by the PDP acting National Chairman, Elder Yemi Akinwonmi, at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja.

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He appealed to the zoning committee chaired by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State to complete its assignment in one week to prepare ground for the smooth take off of the committee.

Asked whether the committee would allow consensus candidacy, the governor said, “Of course! The constitution of the party allows that.”

Fintiri boasted that the PDP would be in control of 28 states by 2023.

He said, “This is not to say that the present leadership we have in the party have not done well. They have done very well and extra well. They’ve taken this party from 10 governors to about 17 governors before we were robbed at the time. So, I believe, by 2023, we’re going to have where we are in 2015, with about 28 governors and the President.”

The governor dismissed the likelihood of shifting the convention, saying the committee was equal to the task.

He said, “The time is barely enough but we are adequately preparing. I don’t see any reason for any shift. We have written INEC and we have virtually gotten the approval of the venue. So, what stops us from giving the best NWC at the end of October?”

Speaking earlier during the inauguration ceremony, Akinwonmi urged the 279-member committee with members from the six geopolitical zones to close rank and ensure that their watchword remained success at the end of the event.

The Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Walid Jibrin, expressed confidence in the ability of the committee, saying that PDP would be “normal”.

The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu, said the inauguration remained a major step towards the task of galvanising the party and Nigerians in general for the task ahead.

Elumelu said, “It is significant because it marks the beginning of a strategic repositioning in our determined march with Nigerians to rescue and take back our dear nation from the stranglehold and misrule of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government.

“It is indeed pathetic that under the APC led government, all the productive sectors of our country have been crippled. Infrastructural decay and skyrocketed costs of food and essential commodities have made life unbearable in Nigeria. The only hope is returning the PDP to power in 2023 and we must not fail our compatriots.”

“It is against this backdrop that we must go into the national convention with every sense of unity, duty and patriotism to elect competent, dedicated and experienced leaders to lead our party and Nigerians to victory in the 2023 general elections.”