•Convention to extend Makarfi committee’s tenure by three months

•Party leaders seek terms for
defectors from APC, other parties

Either goes the 2019 presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP)?

Northeast or Northwest?
That is the all important question now agitating the minds of top members of the party as they try to put their acts together ahead of the
next presidential race.
Some members of the party are said
to be rooting for the presidential
candidate to emerge from the
Northwest which they believe will
curtail the influence of the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC) in the
geo-political zone.
President Muhammadu Buhari is
from that zone.
The PDP members in favour of the
zone say putting a candidate forward
from there will go a long way in
winning votes that would ordinarily
go the way of Buhari or his choice.
Some other members prefer the
Northeast which they think has
always been overlooked.
The division on the slot is likely to
be resolved at the party’s national
convention in November.
The Nation gathered that party
leaders are seeking stronger terms
or conditions for defectors from the
All Progressives Congress (APC) and
other parties.


Besides, PDP leaders will on August
12, extend the tenure of the Ahmed
Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee to
November to afford the party more
time for consultation on the
presidential ticket, it was gathered
last night.
Some PDP governors are said to
have asked the party leadership to
disband the activities of the former
Ministers Forum, rubbishing it as
illegal and extraneous to PDP
Constitution.
The former minister forum itself is
not folding its arms.
It is poised to do battle with a South-
South governor and others who
want to be Vice Presidential
candidate to a serving APC governor.
Party sources said last night that PDP
leaders have ruled out giving the
ticket to the North-Central because
of its “weak voting strength and the
Northern minority factor.”
A top party source said: “We are only
weighing options on whether the
slot should go to the Northwest or
the Northeast.
“Most of our leaders prefer the
Northwest to give President
Muhammadu Buhari or his anointed
candidate a good fight.
“Although a few of our leaders want
the slot for the North-East, there are
fears that some defectors from the
zone might hijack the ticket. We
need to be careful.
“To checkmate these defectors from
APC and other parties, our leaders
are pushing for stringent terms for
getting certain things, including
elective post tickets, from the party.
“We will certainly work on limited or
restricted waiver for defectors. We
won’t allow those who sought to
destroy our party to return through
the backdoor and appropriate our
tickets at all levels.” The source said
party leaders would avoid a situation
where the issue of 2019 presidential
ticket would “divide us at the August
12 national convention.”
The source added: “Our leaders have
resolved to extend the tenure of
Makarfi led Caretaker Committee by
three months.
“We believe by November, we
would have done enough
consultations and put our house in
order to decide the zone (between
North-West and North-East) which
will produce our presidential
candidate”
Meanwhile a fresh crisis of
confidence has broken out in PDP
between some governors and the
Former Ministers Forum.
The affected governors, who have
ambition to be Vice President, have
been uncomfortable with the
growing influence of the Forum.
They alleged that the Forum is not
only illegal but extraneous to the
PDP Constitution.
Investigation showed that the
affected governors were behind an
amorphous group, Committee for
Justice and Fairness (CJF) allegedly
formed to checkmate the Ministers
Forum The new group in a statement
last night took a swipe at the Former
Ministers Forum.
It said: “We want to bring to your
attention the very disruptive and
reckless activities of the so-called
Former Ministers Forum.
“This group, which has no
constitutional or any formalistic
bearing to the structural integrity of
our great party, has somehow
assumed the role of a primary arbiter
in the affairs of our great party as the
tin-horn characters go about
pontificating about issues far beyond
their assumed authority and
position.
“It is rather disgraceful, annoying,
obstructionist and evil straying into
a deliberate sabotaging of the
present peace of our party when the
so-called former ministers are bent
on destroying the already long-
established consensus reached at
Port Harcourt that the next National
Chairman of our party should come
from the South-West.
“This very historic consensus is not
only fair and just. It is very
appropriate and complements the
well-known fairness doctrine.
“For out of all the six zones of our
national union, the Southwest is the
only zone which has been deprived
of this prime honour.
“To now deprive our zone of what is
appropriately our just desert is
condemnable, invidious, cruel and
unfair. It is virtually unacceptable.
“We urge the leadership of the
Caretaker Committee and all allied
leadership of our party to call these
people to order. They should stop,
henceforth, from sowing the seeds
of discord and confusion in our party.
“We are just emerging from a long
nightmare inflicted on our party by
agent provocateurs. We must never
tread the same abominable road
again.”
However,the Forum asked the
affected governors to shut up
because the ex-ministers sustained
the party in its darkest and
challenging moment.
A reliable source in the forum said:
“We know that some of these
governors who want Vice
Presidential ticket in 2019 are trying
to influence Makarfi’s Caretaker
Committee to ignore or disband the
Forum.
” We are aware that one of the
governors from the Southsouth has
already initiated talks with a serving
APC governor to serve as a running
mate during the 2019 poll.
“The party can ignore our Forum at
its own peril. Like gamblers, some of
these governors were shuttling
between Makarfi and Senator Ali
Modu Sheriff when our party was in
crisis. But this Forum was consistent
and it did its best to give strong
support to Makarfi. Now, the
ambitious governors do not see
anything good in the Forum. We are
ready for a long drawn battle with
them.”
Faceb



http://www.thenationonlineng.net/pdp-ex-governors-ministers-warpath-2019-presidential-ticket/

Masses will decides

They should all calm down

another power tussle...

Good. Let them share our money for us

PATIENT JONATHAN and FAYOSE will be a good presidential and vice-presidential candidate for PDP In 2019

Hope the IPOB=PDP will not disappoint themselves sha by bringing northern candidates.well,they can decide to vote GEJ even if he is not contesting.