The People’s Democratic Party’s selection committee disqualified three candidates from the national convention scheduled for October 30.
The chairman of the convention committee, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, revealed it during the unveiling of the party’s national convention logo and promotional material Thursday in Abuja.
Fintiri said the committee set up to select the candidates has completed its work and submitted its report to the organizing committee on Thursday afternoon.
He noted that 31 candidates have indicated interests for various national positions in the party, of which 27 were acquitted, one withdrawn and three disqualified.
He listed disqualified aspirants like Professor Wale Oladipo, Okey Muo-Aroh and Dr Eddy Olafeso.
Oladipo contested for the post of national vice president, South, Muo-Aroh and Olafeso were considering the positions of national secretary and national secretary respectively.
“All these aspirants were disqualified because they sued the party. Their intention was also to stop the national convention.
“So if you’ve taken the party to court without exhausting the internal grievance mechanism and you’re trying to stop the agreement.”
“The committee felt that you cannot also take advantage of the convention.
“Moreover, the provision of article 51 under 1L of our party constitution clearly states that you must exhaust all internal party mechanisms.
“The same constitution of our great party also provided that if you have not exhausted Article 58 (1L), you can be punished under Article 59 (1e). So you can see that the steering committee did what was necessary with them.
“You have to be disciplined in the party so that we can survive. I think we have to move away from the past as we try to open a new chapter for the party, ”said Fintiri.
He said if any of the disqualified candidates had reason to disagree with his disqualification, he had the option of appearing before the appeals committee on Friday.
Fintiri said such a person could be considered depending on the reason they might put forward.
He said the committee had done a great job in paving the way for PDP to move forward.
“I assure you that on October 30 and 31 we will have one of the best open, transparent and democratic conventions in recent history in this country,” he said.
Regarding the number of delegates, Fintiri said that around 4,000 delegates were expected although there were disputes around the list, efforts were underway to clear it.
He stressed the need for the party to do their best at the convention to run the affairs of PDP with their skills, experience and integrity.
“We need to bring in people of great integrity to run the affairs of the party and lead us to win the 2023 general election, especially the president,” he said.
Fintiri called on committee members to make the necessary sacrifice to ensure the success of the convention.
In his remarks, the national publicity secretary of the PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said that the 2021 national convention committee headed by Fintiri was ready to organize a convention that would lead the PDP to victory in the 2023 general election. .
Ologbondiyan, who is also the secretary of the national convention’s advertising subcommittee, said the PDP’s national convention provides an opportunity for Nigerians to come together and support the party in 2023.
Source: NAN
