<\/p>\n
As Nigeria\u2019s political atmosphere continues to heat up, a major setback
\nhit the People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP), on Tuesday the 6th of February
\n2015, as a group of PDP members under the auspices of PDP Aspirants Forum
\n(PAF), are set to decamp to the opposition parties.<\/p>\n
The forum made their position known after a brainstorming meeting that
\ntook place at Rockview Royal, Hotel, in Abuja FCT.<\/p>\n
The organisation which comprises top of members of Peoples Democratic
\nParty (PDP), namely; Hon. Godfrey Gaiya, House of Representatives (Kaduna
\nNorth-West) Hon. Tom Zakari, House of Representatives (Kogi
\nNorth-Central), Hon. Ganama Titsi House of Representatives (Adamawa
\nNorth-East), Babatunde Gbadamosi, Governorship (Lagos South West), Hon.
\nNdudi Elumelu Governorship (Delta South-South), Chief Richard Lamai,
\nSenate (Edo South-South), Hon Bethel Amadi, Governorship (Imo South \u2013East)
\nand Chief Solomon Edoja Senate (Delta South-South).<\/p>\n
They aver that they had put themselves forward for primary election for
\nvarious political positions nationwide i.e. Gubernatorial office
\nestimated at nearly 300, National Assembly about 1500 and State House of
\nAssemblies of about 3000, conducted November and December 2014. They met
\nall party requirements but were deliberately denied tickets through the
\ninstrumentality of rigging and lack of internal democracy as against the
\nRules and Regulations of PDP.<\/p>\n
The aggrieved members in a communiqu\u00e9 issued in Abuja on Friday, 6th
\nFebruary 2015 expressed their disenchantment over the shady conduct of the
\nprimaries across board that was marred with all sorts\u2019 of irregularities
\nthat short-changed the popular aspirants at the primaries.<\/p>\n
The forum in their reaction, aver that party\u2019s inability to conduct a free
\nand fair primaries in all the thirty six states of the federation, was a
\ncalculated plan to ostracise most of the popular political aspirants.<\/p>\n
They accused the party top officials of being bias and selective in their
\nconduct as against the PDP constitution. Alleging that the party
\ncollected huge sums of money for nomination forms from members of the
\nforum, when the party leadership had already anointed candidates before
\nthe commencement of the primaries.<\/p>\n
In their communiqu\u00e9 the forum accused the party leadership of
\ndiscrimination and marginalization, stressing that they were ignored in
\nthe Presidential Campaign Organization of Mr President- a move designed to
\nexclude members of the forum from the party and deny them opportunity of
\nbenefiting from the success of the PDP after the general elections.<\/p>\n
At the end of the meeting, members of the forum resolved that 50% of
\npolitical appointive offices in the next government should be reserved for
\nmembers of the forum, and that Certificate of Clearance be issued to
\nmembers of the forum who were screened to contest the questionable
\nprimaries but were denied Certificate of Clearance by the party.<\/p>\n
They called on the party leader, President Goodluck Jonathan GCFR, to
\ndirect the refund of the nomination form fees collected from aspirants,
\nalso called on the Reconciliation committee set up by the party to assuage
\nmembers\u2019 grievances by reaching the leadership and individual members of
\nthe forum before the conduct of the Presidential elections come March
\n28th.<\/p>\n
They further demanded for funding to enable them mobilize their broad
\nmembership base across the country and their respective constituencies so
\nas to galvanize the support of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to
\nvictory.
\nThey reaffirm that failure to address the issues raised in the communique
\nby the leadership of PDP would result to mass exodus of all members of the
\nforum to the opposition parties.<\/p>\n
Warning that the opposition parties are already wooing the forum to pitch
\ntents with them.<\/p>\n
However, when contacted the House of Representatives Chairman, Committee
\non Health and PDP governorship aspirant in Delta state, Hon. Ndudi
\nElumelu, in his reaction stated \u201cI am doing my best to ensure that this
\nnoble forum does not join the opposition parties, it will be a disastrous
\nfor our party PDP, and are such affect the chances of President Goodluck
\nJonathan at the poll, I urge the PDP leadership to look in to this matter
\nwith urgency\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to Elumelu he has embarked on extensive consultations and
\ninteractions with major stakeholders across board to foster continued
\ndialogue and harmonious resolution of the grievances of the forum.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As Nigeria\u2019s political atmosphere continues to heat up, a major setback hit the People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP), on Tuesday the 6th of February 2015, as a group of PDP…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n