PDP recommends Northern candidate in 2019
PDP recommends Northern candidate in 2019
By GoBroadsheet
The Post-Election Review Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party submitted its report on Wednesday with a recommendation that the party should pick its presidential candidate in the 2019 election from the North.
It also recommended the adoption of direct primary in the election of all candidates for future polls.
The committee chairman, Ike Ekweremadu, disclosed this in Abuja while submitting its report to the National Working Committee of the PDP.
The party had set up the panel in May in the wake of its poor performance in the last general elections.
It was given a nine-point terms of reference, the sum of which was to find out what went wrong and to chart a trajectory for the restoration of the fortunes of the former ruling party.
Mr. Ekweremadu, who is also the deputy senate president, said the recommendation for the zoning of the presidential slot of the party to the North was not only informed by the fact the last president produced by the party, Goodluck Jonathan, was a southerner but also because it was a view popularly expressed during the work of the committee.
He said the party should strictly apply the zoning principle at all levels.
He said, “It is also recommended to the party to strictly apply the zoning principle at all levels. In particular, since the last President of PDP extraction came from the southern part of Nigeria, it is recommended that PDP’s presidential candidate in the 2019 general elections should come from the northern part of the country.
“This is in accordance with the popular views expressed in the submissions to the Committee. This will also assuage any ill feelings in the North over any perceived breach of the party’s zoning principle.”
On the mode of choosing candidates during the election, Mr. Ekweremadu said the committee observed that the use of delegates for that purpose had been grossly compromised and abused.
“Furthermore, it is recommended that the party adopt direct primary as the sole means of electing PDP candidates for any election at all levels,” he said.
“The use of delegates has been grossly compromised and abused, and should therefore be discontinued forthwith to return true ownership
of the party to the people.”
He said the committee also proposed a nationwide biometric membership registration to align the party records with modern technology and further boost the integrity of its membership records as a precursor to other reforms recommended.
The deputy senate president said in line with the recommendations, the panel also drew a roadmap towards the 2019 general elections and future electoral success.
Mr. Ekweremadu explained, “We have made extensive recommendations, the core of which is to end impunity, uphold justice, entrench internal democracy, enhance party administration, promote transparency and accountability, and return the party to its true owners- the people- in accordance with our Party slogan and founding principles. (TI)