Former governor Rashidi Ladoja, Professor Taoheed Adedoja and 6 others jostling to chair the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, at the national level are to sign peace accord as election beckons.
Eleven governors elected on the platform of the party quizzed all the eight national chairmanship aspirants of the party at their meeting in Enugu on Sunday.
The meeting ended in the early hours of Monday.
The questioning was said to have taken place after a meeting that the governors and members of the party’s National Caucus had with the aspirants.
In attendance at the meeting were the Chairman of the party’s National Caretaker Committee, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, all the PDP governors, except that of Ebonyi State, who was represented by the state deputy governor.
Aspirants at the meeting were Bode George, Gbenga Daniel, Uche Secondus, Tunde Adeniran, Jimi Agbaje, Taoheed Adedoja, Raymond Dokpesi and Rashidi Ladoja.
Also in attendance were the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu; a former President of the Senate, Adolphus Nwabara; and former governors Gabriel Susuwan and Sule Lamido.
It was gathered that each aspirant was given 20 minutes to state his programmes for the party.
One of those at the meeting said after presentations, the governors asked each aspirant questions after which they were told to abide by the outcome of the election.
The party had fixed December 9, 2017, for the convention in Abuja, where national officers would also be elected.
At the Enugu meeting, The PUNCH gathered that the aspirants were asked how they would handle the issue of internal democracy in the party.
One of the aspirants, who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “We were asked to present our manifesto.
“We were also asked about our programmes for the party and how we would handle the issue of internal democracy. We also spoke on how to generate funds for the party.
“Some of the governors also asked us how we would handle the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress.”
It was gathered that the aspirants were later asked to come to the national headquarters of the party in Abuja on Tuesday to sign the peace accord.
Five of the aspirants later proceeded to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where they were billed to address delegates to the convention.
Dokpesi, who was at the Enugu meeting, confirmed that the aspirants had been directed to sign the peace accord.
Asked if the issue of zoning came up at the meeting of the forum with the aspirants, Dokpesi said, “The party was explicit enough on the issue of zoning.”
He said while the party’s presidential ticket was zoned to the North, the position of chairman’s was zoned to the South without specific reference to states or geopolitical region.
“After the zoning principle, all the aspirants have agreed to work together. Anybody can contest,” he added.
