Presidential ticket: PDP may meet next week

Following the release of the 2015 election timetable by the Independent National Electoral Commission, permutations on how the presidential candidates of the various political parties will emerge have begun.

As a result, it was learnt that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party might meet next week to discuss the timetable and workout modalities for its primaries.

Investigations by Saturday PUNCH in Abuja on Thursday revealed that the opposition All Progressives Congress was still grappling with the challenges of membership registration and, as such, it had yet to work out modalities for its primaries.

It was learnt that the scramble for the Presidency was largely responsible for the conflict in both the ruling PDP and the opposition APC.

The situation in the PDP became public owing to the agitations of the seven aggrieved governors of the party.

Five out of the seven have defected to the APC after it became apparent that President Goodluck Jonathan was unwilling to accede to their request not to seek re-election in 2015.

The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said, “The INEC timetable is part of the democratic process. PDP is a law-abiding party; we are guided by the procedure for the electoral process.

“We will participate fully in the entire process. Our job is to sensitise the various organs of our party to mobilise themselves and hold rallies for the election.”

However, the case in the opposition APC is still at the level of conjecture.

Insiders, however, posit that former Sokoto State Governor,  Attahiru Bafarawa, and his counterpart from Kano State, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, both left the APC because it was clear that they did not stand a chance in the coming election.

A source in the APC confided in one of our correspondents that the issue of a presidential candidate was a constant source of worry for the party.

According to the source, the party’s growing popularity among Nigerians and the interest being shown by individuals nursing presidential ambitions have added to its number of challenges.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, said: “We know (that) some of the bigwigs, who currently identify with us are doing so because they have their eyes on the ticket.

“In fact, some have already started lobbying and we cannot pretend we are not aware, some are beginning to come out, others are doing so through proxies.

“I can tell you that we are concerned about who is going to be our candidate. Without naming names, you can safely say that those who contested for the Presidency before may not have abandoned such desires.”

When contacted, the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, dismissed the talks about the party’s presidential ticket for now.

He, however, assured Nigerians that the party would follow the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution as well as that of the APC in the selection of all candidates for elective positions.

Mohammed said, “The selection process will follow our constitution. Whoever emerges will be somebody who will have a complete grasp of what Nigerians want, but we cannot be stampeded by either ghost writers or by analysts, we will go through due process to select our candidates.”

Investigations by one of our correspondents also revealed that the Labour Party might be putting finishing touches to modalities of adopting President Goodluck Jonathan as its candidate for the 2015 elections should he seek re-election for a second term.

A highly placed source within the party, however said that the party had yet to take a definite position on the matter.

The source said, “You know the President has always been our associate and a friend of the party. We have two options.

“One is to declare nomination forms for people to come and buy because the party needs money and then field a candidate that is not very popular as our candidate.

“The other one is to declare our total support for the President. But if we know that this would affect our chances in other elections, we won’t do it.”

Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the LP, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, said that the party would take a stand on the matter on Monday.

He said, “We would meet and take a stand on the matter on Monday. I will definitely issue a statement on it that day.”

Copyright PUNCH.