There were indications in Abuja on Tuesday of the Peoples Democratic Party being in a dilemma over those to be appointed as members of its Presidential Screening Committee.



THE PUNCH learnt of this just as the PDP delegates in the North-Central and the Federal Capital Territory on Tuesday unanimously adopted President Goodluck Jonathan as their candidate for the 2011 presidential election



It was gathered that members of the party’s National Working Committee, who met in Abuja over the matter on Saturday, could not agree on the modalities to be used in picking the screening committee members.



The timetable released at the end of the party’s National Executive Committee meeting in Abuja on Thursday, had indicated that the screening of the presidential aspirants would hold on January 11.



A member of the NWC, who spoke with one of our correspondents, said that all the names suggested at the meeting were rejected by the majority of the members.



Among those whose names were rejected were two former chairmen of the party and a prominent politician from the South-East.



The NWC source, who did not want his name in print because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said that most those suggested had identified with either Jonathan or former Vice- President Atiku Abubakar.



Members of the NWC are to meet again on Wednesday (today) to further deliberate on the issue.



The NWC member said, “We met on Saturday to consider those to be on the committee, but those suggested by my colleagues are either close associates of the President or Abubakar.



“Those who are not their close associates had at one time or the other expressed their support, either for zoning, or against it.



“So, we disagreed on the list and we asked ourselves to go back and think of other names. We hope to reconvene in Abuja on Wednesday to further look at the issue.”



He said the list, when agreed on, would be forwarded to the PDP NEC for ratification.



The party’s guideline says there shall be a PSC “appointed by the NEC on the recommendation of the NWC of the party, whose sole responsibility shall be to screen presidential aspirants.”



The PSC , according to the guideline, shall consist of a chairman, a secretary and eight other members.



The guideline also says each geo-political zone will have a representative in the committee and two women, each from the North and South.



Any aspirant aggrieved by the committee’s decision is free to appeal in writing to the Presidential Screening Appeal Panel within 24 hours from the time of the announcement of the result of the screening.



The appeal panel is expected to consist of 12 members of the NWC, plus six members of the Board of Trustees, one from each zone.



The National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, is to chair the panel.



Efforts to speak with the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Prof. Rufai Alkali, were unsuccessful as he was said to have travelled to Gombe State, where he is running for the governorship position.



The PDP delegates in the six states in the North-Central and the FCT, however, endorsed Jonathan during a meeting in Lafia, Nasarawa State on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by the President.



A former FCT Minister, Prof. Jerry Gana, who moved the motion for the President’s adoption, said it was in line with the yearnings of most Nigerians.



A former Nasarawa State Governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, seconded the motion.



Adamu said that the North-Central was always at the forefront of democratic struggles at critical periods in the history of the country.



The President, while thanking the delegates for their support, said the PDP had a bright chance of winning the presidential poll if it presented a candidate that would be acceptable to Nigerians.



He said, “The PDP primaries are the elections before the elections and that is why all the political parties are interested in the PDP primaries.



“They know that any person produced by the PDP as a candidate has a brighter chance of winning the main election except we produce a candidate that will be rejected by Nigerians.”



Jonathan promised to move the country forward if elected as president, adding that he would implement the agenda of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.



The President said he would focus attention on energy, security, agriculture, power, solid minerals and the economic base of the country.



These, according to him , will enable the country to catch up with other countries like India, Indonesia and Brazil.



Meanwhile, Nigerians have said that the PDP is not in a position to realise the country’s development potential.



Nigerians responded to an opinion poll conducted by the party on its website, which asked: “Which party is better positioned to realise Nigeria’s development potential?”



The poll, which was monitored by our correspondent in Abuja on Tuesday, showed that 140 respondents had voted.



However, 100 of them, representing 71.4 per cent of the respondents, said that they did not believe in the party.



Only 28 respondents, representing 4.8 per cent, voted in favour of the party.



Six respondents said they had yet to decide, while the same number of people said no political party was capable of achieving anything significant.









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Hmmmm!
I wonder why huh?

When two elephants collide. . .the grass usually suffers.

Gooooooooooooooooooo "Tikkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkku"!!!!!

Every single sentence na paragraph for this post. . . .na wa o

PDP screening or GEJ screening? Better let's vote PDP out because there is no DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GEJ and ATIKU. there're birds of a feather.

hmmm
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let's eject Atiku ;d ;d

Brand new forum site http://ForumCitizens.com
Join and participate, invite your friends and lets nake the forum
lively and fun. **Proudly Naija!

Lets vote PDP out. PDP = Failure, corruption and bad governance.
With PDP in power there is no future for Nigeria.

Keep it up!
PDP must fall!!!

Chase the Hooligans-in-Power (HiPs) out and vote in better candidates.

Remember to RSVP -

Register;
Select and sponsor(your candidates);
Vote;
Protect your votes;

Let this be our motto for this election period.
Copy and text the motto to as many as possible on your GSM (and/or email) and several times during the voter registration period.
One Man, One Vote!!!

Year after year, we do screening process.However, same ppl still dey chop the national cake.

Abi which one na screening again? "look me I look you. You're in"?

wales:

A former FCT Minister, Prof. Jerry Gana, who moved the motion for the President’s adoption, said it was in line with the yearnings of most Nigerians.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201012223535156
Link:

Hmm, Jerry Gana again?  this man of AGIP(Any Government In Power)

how this take concern me?

A sitting president in the name of Ebele Azikiwe, yet his party is even considering screening the champion of AC?

juman:

Lets vote PDP out. PDP = Failure, corruption and bad governance.
With PDP in power there is no future for Nigeria.

quite true but I DONT SEE ANY OTHER ASPIRANT BETTER THAN GEJ/SAMBO(NOT PDP) OR DO YOU THINK THERE IS?

as much as i love GEJ to be in power, i pray he should lose the primaries so he'll be bent to conduct a very credible election which means Atiku would be out and Ribadu might be in,

P.D.P-Power.____.People; those incharge of the party are: Power.Driven.People,then those under the party(masses) are: Power.Drown.People. The only achivements of former president: Olusegun Obasanjo were:1.introduction of mobile fones,2.the cancelation of nigerias' debt. What else noting as regards Education, PDP doesn't have plan 4 education! Schools are always on STRIKE! Yar'dua also came with 7point agenda, none had full effect, before his demise and now Johnathan Ebele, still Strikes every where, inflation at the increase, violence still looming!, hmmm, under PDP, we can not get anything good.

this people and power