After various meetings and deliberations, the number of contenders for the position of national chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been pruned down to the last three.
A report by The Punch indicates that three of the geopolitical zones in the north, northeast, northwest and the northcentral, have produced one candidate each.
Below is the list:
Former Senate President Iyiochia Ayu (Benue State, northcentral)
Senator Suleiman Nazif, PDP deputy national chairman, north (Bauchi, northeast)
Former Katsina state governor, Ibrahim Shema (Katsina, northwest)
How the three contenders emerged
Legit.ng notes that the three national PDP chairmanship candidates emerged through different political arrangements.
While former Senate president Ayu emerged through a consensus, the former Katsina governor, Shema, emerged from the northwest after polling majority polls from six out of the seven states in the zone.
As for Senator Nazif, the Bauchi state-born PDP chieftain emerged as the sole candidate from the northeast.
Three contenders to slug it out
It was gathered that the three final candidates will face each other when the Northern Caucus of the PDP meets to decide who among them will be presented as the choice of the north for the position during the party’s national convention.
The convention is scheduled to hold between Saturday, October 30 and Sunday, October 31.
Ahead of 2023 elections, PDP chieftain opens up on northcentral’s needs
Meanwhile, following the decisions taken by the PDP on zoning for its national chairmanship position, a former chairman of the party, Kawu Baraje, has said that members from the north would vie for the 2023 presidential ticket.
Bareje in a statement released on Tuesday, October 12, said qualified members of the PDP from the north-central will vie for presidential tickets during the party’s primaries.
Baraje said the north-central would follow the earlier declaration made by the National Executive Committee of the party which implies that the zoning of offices would not affect the decision of members to seek elective offices.
Likely candidate for APC national chairmanship emerges
In a related development, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff has been projected as the best candidate for the national chairmanship of the All progressives Congress (APC) by the Arewa Solidarity Organization (ASO).
The ASO’s spokesman, Abdullahi Risky, in a statement on Tuesday, October 12, noted that the former Borno governor is whom the ruling party needs to get to greater heights.
Risky added that the federal lawmaker has the exposure and experience in party politics for the enhancement of the APC’s democratic tenets. The statement added that the senator is the right man to stand as a force against the PDP.
Source: Legit
