Angry Governors Storm Abuja Today Strong indications have emerged that the reported consummation of a new deal between President Goodluck Jonathan, the national leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and senators on the party’s platform is being threatened. Governors elected on the platform of the party not only denied knowledge of the deal, but vowed to frustrate any such move aimed at shutting them out to the advantage of the senators. The reported deal between the senators and the President has however drawn the anger of the governors, who will storm the nation’s capital today. They are likely to meet with the President and Muazu to thrash out the issues before the presidential declaration on Tuesday. The development may be connected with the sudden postponement of the PDP nomination processes across board. “It is just normal that we extend in the face of fresh developments that are emerging by the day,” a source told LEADERSHIP Sunday in confidence. Unconfirmed reports said the President, Senate President David Mark, as well as the national chairman of PDP Adamu Muazu at a meeting with the senators agreed to effect the return of at least two senators per state. The meeting, which produced the deal, was called to douse the tension occasioned by the request for automatic tickets by the senators in response to the desire of some state governors to aspire to the Senate come 2015. The move has shaken the cohesion of the PDP in most states even as the last ward congresses of the party revealed the rivalry between the senators and the governors. In protest, short-changed senators had threatened to withdraw their cooperation with the executive. One of the governors affected by the peace deal said, “Both the President and the senators are on their own. We shall see what happens in the next one week. “The reported deal cannot be true at all. You just ignore it. I believe some of the senators are trying to test the waters by spreading falsehood in the media. “I can tell you that deal will not fly if at all it exists, because there is no way such could be arrived at without the governors in attendance.” But the ruling party has kept mute in the face of this development. Rather, it said the public should await its official position on the matter. “I read the story as you did. As far as we are concerned, the party is yet to take a position. An official statement to this effect will be released in due course,” said the national publicity secretary of PDP, Olisah Metuh. Meanwhile, the PDP has extended its process of nominations into elective offices. The party has shifted its national convention/presidential primaries to December 10, 2014. Initially, the party had fixed the presidential primaries for December 6, 2014. It has also shifted the governorship primaries from November 29 to December 8, 2014. The shifting of the dates has led to the extension of deadlines for the submission of forms for governorship aspirants. A statement signed by the national organising secretary of the party, Abubakar Mustapha, did not explain the reason for the adjustment. It however said, “In exercise of its powers under section 29 (2) (a) and (b) of the constitution of our great party (2012 as amended), the National Working Committee (NWC) has approved the review of timelines (timetable) for the conduct of congresses/primaries preparatory to the 2015 general elections.” The party however noted that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been notified of the review. According to the new timetable, deadline for the return of forms for governorship election is November 14, 2014, while screening and appeals would hold on November 22 and 25. The governorship primaries will now hold on December 8 and the appeals on December 9. The deadline for return of presidential nomination forms is November 15, 2014, while screening and appeals will be on November 26, 2014. The national convention/presidential primaries, which will see to the ratification of President Goodluck Jonathan as sole presidential candidate as adopted by the National Executive Committee of the party, will hold on October 10 and 11, 2014. The party also stated that aspirants for the National Assembly will return their forms by November 14, 2014, while screening and appeals will take place between November 19 and 21, 2014. The party also disclosed that primaries for the House of Representatives will hold on December 6, while that of the senate will hold on December 7. Appeals for both chambers will hold on December 8, while the return of forms and screening for House of Assembly aspirants have been completed, their screening will hold November 10. The House of Assembly primaries and appeals will hold on November 29 and 30 respectively. However, the PDP has raked in the sum of N2.684 billion from the sales of nomination and expression of interest forms to 234 governorship aspirants across the country. The governorship aspirants paid N11 million each. Meanwhile, 11 of the aspirants are females, while the rest are males. Most aspirants, such as the governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives and others, were said to have picked up their forms from their states after the payment of the prescribed amount. Aspirants that picked forms from the states did so in compliance with the party’s notice, which offered them the option of either collecting the forms in the state or at the national office. While Imo State takes the lead in the number of governorship aspirants with 19, Delta State has 18 governorship aspirants.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 00:00:37 +0000