The former governor of Niger State, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, and eight other prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have called for the postponement of the party’s national convention slated for May 21, 2016, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting of the PDP Concerned Group, yesterday in Abuja, Aliyu, who is the chairman of the group, said the current party’s zoning formula for the position of its national chairman was “inconsistent with the original PDP principles.”
The meeting, which had in attendance the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Bala Mohammed, Hajiya Zainab Maina, John Odey, Sulaiman Abubakar, Captain Hassan Mohammed (rtd), Sa’idu Ndako Idris, Dr Bolere Ketebu and Alhaji Kaulaha Aliyu, said the procedure and conduct of the congresses nationwide were greeted with disaffection and disagreement.
The PDP chieftains said postponement of the convention would enable the party to restrategise, organise and conduct a more cohesive and acceptable national convention and stop aggrieved members from organising parallel congresses and conventions.
“The current zoning formula for the position of national chairman as adopted by only 1/3 (one-third) of NEC is inconsistent with the original PDP principles,” Aliyu said.
The group observed a one-minute silence in memory of the late president Umar Musa Yar’adua who died six years ago.
It could be recalled that the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) recently inaugurated the finance, reconciliation, convention and zoning committees, in readiness for the party’s May 21 national convention.
Meanwhile, the PDP, yesterday, in a statement issued by its national organising secretary, Abubakar Mustapha, announced the cancelation of the congresses held in Adamawa, Lagos and Osun states, saying new committees have been constituted to conduct the primaries from May 6, 2016.
