PDP Governors In Firm Grip Of Main Opposition Party, To Decide Presidential Candidate

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With the outcome of the national convention of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors elected on the platform of the party have taken firm charge, and are primed to decide who will fly the party’s presidential ticket in 2023.

Through their collaboration, all the offices in the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) were filled by candidates favoured by them, giving them the firm grip of the party.

Indeed, former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, ex-Senate President, Bukola Saraki and former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, may have had a foretaste of what awaits them in their rumoured 2023 presidential ambitions.

At the just-concluded national elective convention of the PDP in Abuja; governors showed their might as they literally hand-picked members of the next National Working Committee, NWC, and other national officers of the party.

Atiku, Saraki and Lamido, Vanguard gathered, did everything possible to drum support for Olagunsoye Oyinlola who vied for the office of Deputy National Chairman (South) against Taofeek Arapaja.

Arapaja, a former deputy governor of Oyo State, rode on the support of the PDP governors to the convention, as entreaties made to Oyinlola to step down failed.

Two hours before balloting, Atiku, Saraki and Lamido went to state pavilions to woo delegates to support Oyinlola.

The move, according to findings, was aimed at neutralizing the influence of the governors who have since taken hold of the party following the ouster of former chairman, Prince Uche Secondus. But it turned out an exercise in futility as Arapaja polled 2,004 votes to beat Oyinlola, who got 705 votes.

A member of the outgoing NWC told Vanguard in confidence that with the feat, the governors have announced themselves as the undisputed owners of the party.

“Atiku and Saraki should realize that their time is over. If they want to pursue their 2023 ambitions, the governors would have a big say.

“What it means is that without the support of the governors, you can’t win a big position in the PDP of today. This is the message I think everyone took home from this convention,” he said.

Like in 2017 when her bid to become the PDP deputy national chairman (North) failed, former Women Affairs Minister, Maryam Ina Ciroma, again failed to realise her ambition as she lost to Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagum.

The 13 governors elected on the platform of the PDP, Vanguard learned, had pleaded with Ciroma to shelve her ambition to give room to the emergence of Damagum as consensus candidate.

After entreaties to her failed, Ciroma headed for the convention with confidence but the governors made their influence count as Damagum polled 2, 222 votes to emerge Deputy National Chairman (North) while Ciroma garnered 365 votes.

One striking feature of the voting pattern of delegates was that they all voted uniformly for the consensus candidates handpicked by either the governors or their associates.

Thus, the likes of Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Debo Ologunagba, Stella Effah-Attoe and Kamaldeen Ajibade emerged National Secretary, National Publicity Secretary, National Woman Leader and National Legal Adviser respectively after polling 3,426 votes each at the convention.

The story was the same for unopposed Umar Bature, Okechukwu Daniel, Daniel Woyegikuro,

and Mohammed Suleiman, as they became members of the NWC after polling 3,426 votes each to emerge National Organizing Secretary, National Auditor, National Financial Secretary and National Youth Leader of the party respectively.

Like in 2017, the PDP governors compiled names of their preferred candidates, all of whom emerged victorious at the convention.