Senator Ahmed Makarfi has held a strategic meeting with the party national chairmanship aspirants ahead of the forthcoming convention.
Ahmed Makarfi holding the microphone
Senator Ahmed Makarfi, Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party National Caretaker Committee, says his committee has no power on micro-zoning of elective positions.
He said this Tuesday night at a meeting with eight national chairmanship aspirants at the party’s secretariat in Abuja.
Makarfi said: “As a committee, our powers are limited to the decisions taken at the party’s national convention in Port Harcourt.
“The convention agreed to zone the national chairmanship to the South while its ticket in the 2019 presidential election was zoned to the north. We cannot go beyond that and decide which part of the north or south should produce what.”
“Some people think that I, as chairman of the caretaker committee, should assume the power that we don’t have.
“We have no power beyond the convention and the party’s constitution. I want to remind all of us that the only thing our convention did was to zone two positions. The caretaker committee cannot go beyond that.
“To assume that the chairman of the caretaker committee can come and exercise power that he doesn’t have, and start dishing out orders, that will be undemocratic. That will have no basis or foundation in our constitution.”
He said that the meeting was aimed at giving every aspirant the opportunity to state his vision and plans for the party if elected its national chairman.
He said: “We decided that we should meet, discuss and hear from you, as we prepare for the convention.”
In attendance were: Senator Rasheed Ladoja, former Oyo State Governor; Prof. Tunde Adeniran, former Education Minister; Otunba Gbenga Daniel, former Ogun State governor; and Chief Raymond Dokpesi, founder, Daar Communications.
Others were Chief Olabode George, former PDP National Deputy Chairman; Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, former sports and special duties minister; Jimi Agbaje, PDP governorship candidate in 2015; and Prince Uche Secondus, former PDP acting National Chairman.