The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is consulting with relevant stakeholders on the possibility of holding fresh primaries in the six states the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has scheduled to hold gubernatorial elections before the end of next year.
Though Vanguard could not confirm this, the consultations are believed to be at the highest levels of the party including the Presidency.
Before the court judgment that derailed INEC’s plans for gubernatorial elections, the party had adopted a number of candidates for the gubernatorial elections. The re-scheduling of the elections has, however, put both the party and INEC in a fix on account of the legal ambiguity on the time frame that the adoption of a candidate can stand.
The issue, Vanguard gathered, was also extensively discussed during last Wednesday’s meeting of the National Working Committee, NWC, during which it was equally resolved to adopt the policy of consultation before a final decision is taken.
PDP gubernatorial aspirants in Kogi State have already drawn battle line on the issue with a resolve among all but one of them for fresh primaries. The exception was Alhaji Isah Jibril Echocho who was adopted by the party as its candidate last January.
INEC had fixed gubernatorial election in Kogi for December 3, 2011, Adamawa, January 14, 2012; Bayelsa, February 11, 2012; Sokoto, March 10, 2012; Cross River, April 14, 2012 and Edo, July 14, 2012.
Answering questions from journalists at the NWC meeting, Wednesday, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali, said the NWC had commenced wide consultation with stakeholders and party leaders at various levels to guide it in arriving at mutually acceptable decisions that would help the party.
He said: “On the situation in Kogi State, we feel that we have to do some consultations whether there will be fresh primaries in the state and our decision will be made public as soon as we conclude our consultations.”
On the situation in Anambra state, Alkali explained that the NWC was still standing by the decision it took after its meeting last week that the South East zonal leadership of the party should oversee the affairs of the state chapter of the party until fresh congresses are conducted to elect new officers.
