By Favour Goodness
Between 4,000 and 6,000 delegates from across the country are expected to participate in the October 30-31, 2021 national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Towards the exercise, which is slated to hold in Eagle Square, Abuja, the party’s National Convention Planning Committee led by Adamawa state Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, met in Abuja on Saturday to fine-tune arrangements.
Speaking after the meeting, he said both the Eagle Square and the Old Parade Ground, Area 10 Abuja, which will serve as venue for accreditation, have already been secured.
The governor stated that even though the size of the delegates was still being worked out, it would not be less than 4,000 to 6,000.
“The size of delegate is still being compiled. PDP is a big party. It has produced a lot of good leaders for this country. We are compiling their list. But we are not expecting anything less than 4000- 6000 delegates,” he stated.
Fintiri announced that nomination forms for the various offices in the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party will begin on Monday next week.
The Adamawa state governor affirmed that the October dates of the convention remained.
He added: “We expect that sales of forms will commence on Monday and we also expect that the screening committee should also commence and conclude their work on or before the end of next week so that those who are vying, will go about and do their campaign.
“The venue has been secured, that is the Eagle square and it is ours on that day, 30th and 31st. We have equally secured the Area 10 Old Parade Ground which will serve the purpose of accreditation.
“We are urging the accreditation committee to work on using these venues in liaison with the transport committee so that the transport committee will work with the appropriate transport companies to secure vehicles for members that will be accredited and conveyed from the Old Parade Ground to the Eagles square.”
Fintiri remarked that the committee would address the submissions of the various convention sub-committees to have a hitch-free exercise.
He further disclosed: “We have received budgets from all the sub-committees and we are in the process of streamlining the budgets because there are areas the submissions are conflicting. We are all working to achieve one convention which is the 2021 convention.
“As soon as we finish this meeting, we shall approve the budgets based on the availability of funds and early next week, precisely Monday and Tuesday. Some of the committees will start receiving their budgets support so that they can start their work in earnest for us to have a successful convention.”
Also speaking, governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state, told journalists consensus remains an option in all the positions.
He said, however, that where that is not possible, contestants would have to slug it out on the Election Day.
According to him, “Consensus is normally a process of democratic consultation because democracy is about consensus. Certainly, electoral process can be reduced by having a converging point on an individual and that would have reduced disparaging issues within the party.
“I did say we should have a consensus candidate, but where we will not, we will not practice imposition.
“We have resolved the issue of zoning. We have learnt our mistakes and we are not going to play to the gallery the way and manner our detractors or competitors want us to be.
We will always resolve our issues, so zoning is over. We have really gone over this issue. What we are looking forward to is the emergence of a chairman from the North, who will give us the leadership that we require to form government in 2023.”
