PDP Senate Caucus to Collectively Adopt Chairmanship Candidate

•  INEC Plans 1m adhoc staff for 2019 polls
• Emmanuel, PDP state chairmen meet in Uyo

Damilola Oyedele in Abuja and Okon Bassey in Uyo

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the Senate has decided to collectively throw its weight behind one candidate, among those vying for the position of the chairman of the party at the upcoming national convention.

The PDP is set to hold its convention on November 9, 2017, and has zoned the slot for the chairmanship of the party to the South-west.

To this end, the caucus is set to hold a meeting next Monday, where the candidature of each of the candidates would be assessed, and the caucus’s candidate would be adopted.

The decision was taken at a closed door meeting of the caucus which was held in the National Assembly yesterday.
A senator, who spoke with THISDAY off record said the lawmakers were however yet to decide which of the South-west candidates it would support for the chairmanship position.

“Plenary did not finish on time today, (yesterday), so we decided we would not be able to conclude on our agenda, so the meeting was adjourned till Monday, it was just to prepare for the upcoming convention, to adopt a candidate for the chairmanship position.”

“Some are already campaigning. We have Chief Bode George, Chief Gbenga Daniel, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, former Governor Rasheed Ladoja, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Mr. Jimi Agbaje and Senator Bode Olajumoke. The number may increase. So on Monday, we would discuss each candidate and decide on who to adopt as a caucus,” the senator said.

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it plans to recruit one million ad hoc staff to complement the electoral body’s staff for the efficient conduct of the 2019 general election.
This is as it reiterated its preparedness for the upcoming Anambra State polls slated for next month.

The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmod Yakubu, speaking before the Senate Committee on INEC yesterday, said the conduct of the Anambra, Ekiti and Osun States elections would help Nigerians assess the electoral commission’s readiness for the 2019 polls.

He added that while the existing smart card readers would be deployed for Anambra State elections, their management has been enhanced to reduce its inefficiencies, which he said are sometimes “over magnified.”
Mahmud assured the committee that INEC is working hard to ensure that the performances of the smart card readers in the 2019 polls are enhanced.
“Controversies and challenges raised on the Smart Card Readers in the 2015 elections to us in INEC were over magnified because the problem was not technological on the part of the device but altitudinal on the part of the users due to lack of adequate training.”

“Thus, because the problem is more of altitude than technological defects, solid steps are being taken by the commission to bring about robust interface between the machine and those to use them in terms of practical trainings before the elections,” he said.
Also, Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State and the 36 state chairmen of the PDP yesterday held a meeting aimed at re-positioning the party ahead of its elective national convention and the 2019 general election.
The meeting held behind closed doors took place at the conference hall of the state Government House, in Uyo, with the governor presiding.

At the meeting, it was gathered that the governor who is the Chairman of the South-south and South-east chapter of the party, urged the PDP state chairmen to sit up as it was time for every stakeholder in the PDP to close ranks and work to re-position the party effectively emerge victorious at the 2019 polls.
The governor who emphasised the importance of the meeting, told the state chairmen of the party that he had to cut short other crucial engagements in Abuja to be part of the forum.

He promised supports for the party from relevant stakeholders and craved for a holistic action plan to restructure the party and return it to winning ways in the next general elections in the country.
PDP, the governor stressed, was working to address every teething problem bedeviling the party, hinting that “all state congresses of the party would be concluded before the end of November.”
According to him, the meeting was crucial as the need to fix the party ahead of the in 2019 polls would form part of the party’s agenda at the INEC meeting scheduled for Tuesday next week.

The Chairman of the PDP in the state, Obong Paul Ekpo informed the gathering that the meeting became necessary to tinker on the way forward for the party.
Ekpo who doubles as the Chairman of the Conference of PDP State Chairmen in Nigeria said: “We have taken positive resolutions that will help our party”.

He tasked party leaders and stakeholders to remain united under the PDP to ensure the party regain its national appeal.
Stressing further, he said the party has taken a resolution to partner relevant stakeholders with a view to galvanising inputs on how to effectively address the challenges facing the party in time for the big polls.