Ministerial-nominees: PDP in marathon meetings

 By HENRY UMORU

ABUJA – FOLLOWING the submission of the names of two of its members as ministerial- nominees to the Senate for screening, the National Working Committee, NWC of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday went into marathon meetings to take very decisive decisions.

The meetings, as gathered, are also designed to reposition the party, just as the consultations are also on to correct the present imbalance in its zoning arrangement, especially with the emergence of Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, (Sokoto, North-West) and Emeka Ihedioha, (Imo, South East) as Speaker and Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives respectively against the party’s zoning formula.

Vanguard gathered that the first meeting which took place at the Wadata Plaza did not come up with any resolution while another stakeholders’ meeting was scheduled for another venue outside the National Secretariat of the party.

According to a source at the meeting, an emergency Board of Trustees, BoT and National Executive Committee, NEC meetings will be summoned to immediately address the issues on ground for the replacement of the Acting National Chairman, Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed and the National Auditor, Dr. Samuel Ortom whose names were forwarded by President Goodluck Jonathan to the Senate for screening.

With the ongoing screening at the Senate, if the acting National Chairman and the National Auditor scale through, it thus means that in line with the party’s constitution, Mohammed would be expected to hand over to the National Secretary of the party, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, while the party will source for Ortom’s replacement from the North-Central where he comes from.

It was gathered that Mohammed was at the meeting briefly, but had to rush to the National Assembly for documentation ahead of his screening by the Senate.

 The meeting was thereafter presided over by the National Legal Adviser, Chief Olusola Oke.

According to the source, since the party had already zoned the National Chairmanship position to the North-East geo-political zone and with the tenure of the present National Working Committee, NWC which came on board, March 8, 2008 coming to an end, it became imperative for a machinery to be put in place for a new leadership of the party.

Besides the two members on the Ministerial list, some other members of the NWC are being pencilled down for the position of Special Advisers and Chairmen of some boards of parastatals.