PDP Convention To Hold On December 9, ...We Must Not Toy With Our Chances in 2019, Says George

The Nigerian main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Executive Committee (NEC) has approved December 9 for the party’s national elective convention.

The PDP National Caretaker Committee Publicity Secretary, Mr Dayo Adeyeye, disclosed this on Tuesday at the end of the party’s 76th NEC meeting in Abuja.

He revealed that the convention would hold at the Eagles Square, Abuja, adding that the proposed budget for the convention was also submitted for NEC consideration.

Adeyeye, while chatting with after the NEC meeting, revealed that the NEC also granted waivers to new members in Anambra and Oyo States who recently decamped from other political parties to the PDP.

“As you know in Oyo state, so many people are joining PDP from other parties and we want to give them a level playing ground just like other members who have been in the party,” he stated.

“The effectiveness of that is that as we are conducting congresses of the party from wards to local government level, new members can participate.”

Asked if the PDP candidates for Anambra governorship election, Mr Obaze Oseloka, was among those granted waiver by the NEC, Adeyeye disclosed that Oseloka had been granted waiver before the party’s primary election.

“What we did today was for the NEC to ratify the decisions of the national caretaker committee.”

He added that the NEC also approved party election guidelines for 2017 Congresses and national convention adding that the proposed amendment to the party’s constitution was presented for consideration to avoid a repeat of what happened in 2013.

Meanwhile, former Military Governor of Ondo State and an aspirant for the national chairmanship position of the PDP, Chief Olabode George, has advised the party not to miss a second chance opportunity to return to power in 2019.

He said with tempo of support which the party is currently getting from Nigerians, PDP would only need to put its acts together to win the election.

George, a former PDP Deputy National Chairman, who inaugurated his campaign office in Abuja yesterday, dispelled the fears of party members that he would be high-handed if elected chairman.

George said he would be a team player if he clinch the chairmanship.

A major highlight of the event came when one of the aspirants, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, stormed the venue to show solidarity with George.

Dokpesi, whose birthday came up on Wednesday, was given an ovation by George’s supporters before he gave a speech extolling George's virtues, as he said the former military governor is qualified to lead PDP.

According to George, "I am not going to be an overlord. Somebody must emerge, and whoever emerges through a normal process, we will support him.  

"If it is the will of God that I will be chairman I will work with everybody.”

He said PDP needs an experienced man person who "knows the written and unwritten laws" of the party to lead it, but however, submitted that it is God that anoints a leader.

 

George also told his supporters that he made a promise to quit the political stage after ‎working for PDP for 20 years, so as to allow the younger ones a chances.

He commended Dokpesi for his solidarity, recalling that at a meeting with the party leadership last Tuesday, "we made a proposal to party managers, ‘let us form a body of elders of the party to address the unnecessary competitions in our party’."

The former deputy national chairman reminded party members that there may not be a second chance after surviving the crisis that engulfed the PDP, remarking that "my prayer is that our convention will be a carnival."