National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been slated for October this year.
The chairman of the party in Niger State, Alhaji Tanko Beji, disclosed this barely 48 hours after the Supreme Court declared Senator Ahmed Makarfi as the authentic national chairman of PDP.
Beji also called on members interested in contesting any national office to indicate interest. He further disclosed that each state branch of the party had also been directed to submit 30 names of members that would serve as the Convention Planning Committee.
While addressing stakeholders’ meeting in Minna, Niger State capital, on Thursday, Beji explained that the parley was basically to intimate the party supporters in the state on the outcome of the Supreme Court judgement.
The PDP national leadership, which met at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja after the Supreme Court judgement, also took some decisions, including the zoning of the 2019 Presidency to the north while the Vice presidential slot would go to the south.
Beji therefore advised all those with ambition to seek the mandate of the people at all levels to be aware of the timetable and to prepare ahead of time to do the needful, stressing, ‘‘The era of no vacancy in every segments of the party has gone for ever.”
“Anyone with ambition should go to the people, the leadership will not allow imposition of candidates”, the chairman said, adding that each of the three senatorial zones in Niger State will present 10 of the delegates allocated to the state.
The state PDP chairman, who advised each of the zones to ensure that all the local government councils were represented, said that the major focus of the party at the moment was on how to hold a successful national convention and win the national elections in 2019.
“Our common enemy is the APC. We should all join hands to chase out the APC in 2019”, Beji said, referring to the series of arrests and arraignment of some of PDP leaders in Niger State including himself as ‘part of politicking’.
Beji, who had earlier expressed his preparedness to face the challenges of the 2019 election as it comes said, “We should not be afraid of arrests, we cannot all be arrested at once. I assure you we cannot all die one day”.
Prominent members of PDP in Niger State present at the meeting included those that were in support of the former Senator Ali Modu Sheriff faction.