By agreeing to allow delegates vote whoever they wish to, governors of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP may have struck the perfect deal for democracy in Nigeria.
The governors agreed not to back any particular candidate at the national convention of the party on Saturday and this will dispel the notion of anointed candidates, an issue that often leads to muffled rancour and eventual defeat.
“They have just met, and there was no consensus on any candidate”, a source told some select media, an indication that as many as the contestants are, not all the governors agree on the character analysis of them all.
Elated by the news that the delegates are free to choose any aspirant of their choice, a delegate from a South South State told The Oasis Reporters correspondent that he will vote based on the character perception of his candidate.
“I will definitely not be voting for anyone who is a fairweather member of the party. My vote will not go for any aspirant who has imposed his son in-law or family member as PDP governorship candidate in his State. I cannot detest Buhari’s cronyism and allow it to fester in the PDP”, he said, not wanting his name in print.
The decision has altered the dynamics of the Convention, such that a hitherto believed frontrunner in the race has put some of his expenditure plans under suspension since the assurances of some southern governors to him may have been diluted by this new last minute decision in a race termed too close to call.
Two PDP governors are in the race and the remaining 10 governors felt it would be inappropriate to be openly partisan towards one of them.
But with delegates now being asked to go and vote independently without being instructed by the governors, who often play the role of custodian of delegates, the fierce competition already witnessed in the weeks leading up to the primaries may get even more intense well into the last minute.
Even though governors have their individual preference among the aspirants, the decision to let delegates be free to make their choice could mean there would be more delegates to lobby for aspirants.
At least 4,000 delegates are expected to participate in the primaries, according to party officials. They have been arriving in town since Wednesday, and the last set would arrive by morning on Saturday.
Speaking to NaijaLiveTv.com corespondent Abu-Ubaida Ibrahim Kuna, SA, New Media to Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo yesterday, October 5, 2018 assured delegates that “as the most loyal and committed PDP member who never defected from the Party Dankwambo would not step down for anybody”.
He went on further to say that “PDP’s name remains in the entire North as if the entire North is PDP whereas Dankwambo is the only PDP governor that returned in the entire North and remained in the party to fight Buhari’s Tsunami and won election in Gombe”.
Majority of the Delegates seem set to consider the resilience in the character of Dankwambo who remained in the party when it was not fashionable to do so, added to the fact that he is from the North East, a region that is favoured now to take a shot at the presidency as all the previous presidents of northern extraction came from the North West.
The 12 candidates in the race are: Ibrahim Dankwambo, Atiku Abubakar, Ahmed Makarfi, Aminu Tambuwal, Datti Baba-Ahmed, Attahiru Bafarawa, Sule Lamido, Bukola Saraki, David Mark, Jonah Jang, Kabiru Turaki and Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Two of the aforementioned candidates are serving governors. Ibrahim Dankwambo who is on his last tenure as governor of Gombe State. He is a PDP man to the core who has never left the party, and Aminu Tambuwal, Sokoto State governor who was PDP Speaker of the House of Representatives but defected to the ruling All Progressive Congress to emerge as the APC governor of Sokoto State. He’s back to the PDP and currently in the race for the presidency.
They will all be relying on their individual abilities to clinch the ticket and face President Muhammadu Buhari as the main challenger in the general election next February that pundits are favouring the PDP to win, if they offer Nigerians a better deal than what the All Progressive Congress,APC has offered so far.
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Chief *Micheal Jonny*, Others speaking while addressing Their supporters at Oleh in Delta South Senatorial District said that “this is day time robbery and cannot stand. How can the national chairman comrade Adams Oshiomole declare Uduaghan as the only aspirant cleared for the delta south senatorial district party ticket? This is astute injustice, political discrimination, and political discombobulation.”
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