- Govs, Stakeholders attend national caucus meeting
By Chuks Okocha
After series of meeting on the state of the party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said that it will review its manifesto to meet the expectations of Nigerians.
This is part of the efforts to reposition the PDP for the 2023 general election.
This was one of the main decision taken at the party’s National Caucus meeting which ended in the early hours of Thursday.
A member of the national caucus that spoke to newsmen on condition of anonymity said, “We received briefings from the Governor Bala Mohammed-led committee set up to review the 2019 general election, the state of our party, and also discussed a wide range of issues of national importance.
“The Bala Mohammed Committee is yet to conclude its assignment but substantial progress has been made.”
On the position of the caucus over the defection of the Ebonyi state governor, Dave Umahi , the source said, “We were briefed by the National Working Committee on efforts made to persuade him to remain.
“We also agreed that as part of our agenda to reposition the party, we will be reviewing our manifesto for it to align with current realities in the social-political sphere. It will form part of the agenda of our National Executive Committee meeting holding in a few hours from now.”
Also commenting on the outcome of the meeting, the National Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus said, “We discussed issues affecting our party and our country.“
The Governor of Taraba State, Darius Ishaku, also said that “The PDP remains the only party which is nationalistic, we are repositioning ourselves to become stronger.”
The national caucus meeting was attended by Governor Bala Muhammad of Bauchi state. The chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and governor of Sokoto state, Aminu Tambuwal, the Edo state governor, Goodwin Obaseki, Bayelsa governor, Douye Diri, and the host governor, Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom state.
Also present were the governor of Delta state, Ifeanyi Okowa, his Abia state counterpart, Okezie Ikpeazu, and the Adamawa state governor, Ahmad Fintiri
Also in attendance were immediate past Senate President. Dr Bukola Saraki was also in attendance, former governor of Kaduna state, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, and Chief Tom Ikimi.
Other members in attendance were former deputy senate president. Ibrahim Mantu, Senator Ike Ekwerenmadu, the chairman of the PDP BoT, Senator Walid Jubrin, and many other BoT members.
The agenda of the national caucus meeting was not known but it may not be unconnected with issues affecting the PDP as a political party, especially zoning of key political offices like the presidential candidate of the party
The national caucus was presided over by the national chairman. Prince Uche Secondus.
The Board of Trustees meeting of the party took place earlier Wednesday at the national secretariat of the PDP, but after over four hours, the meeting did not brief the press.
Some of the issues on the agenda of the meeting include the zoning of political offices ahead of the 2023 general election.
It was gathered that the matter was differed pending when the All Progressives Congress (APC) will hold its national convention to elect the substantive officials of the party.
A source at the meeting simply told THISDAY that, “we discussed everything but it would be premature to announce zoning of key offices now. We are in a competition. Let others come up with their zoning arrangements and we will follow up immediately.”
