From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, has said that the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) will explore the possibility of choosing its presidential candidate, as well as candidates for other elective positions, in the election, through consensus.
Ortom, who stated this, yesterday, in Abuja, said the PDP is committed to rescuing the country from the alleged bad governance of the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC).
He explained that the PDP as a way of ensuring a united house had chosen most of the members of its next National Working Committee(NWC) through consensus, at its last national convention, in Abuja; noting that the party will to toe same line in the nomination of candidates for various elective positions in the 2023 general elections.
However, the Benue governor noted that where it is not possible to have a consensus, the opposition will ensure that the candidates are nominated in free, fair and credible primaries.
“The PDP Governors, we agreed that we will work together to rescue Nigeria. And that was why we agreed that our chairman and most of the positions will be through consensus. And I tell you more than 90 per cent of the officers was through consensus. Only three positions out of 21 were contested. Yet, we ensured free and fair and transparent process. You can see that the appeal panel for the national convention had no job; because we ensured free, fair and transparent process.
“And I believe that that as we match into 2023, we are going to adopt that system of ensuring first of all, having consensus candidates for all the elective positions. But where we cannot get consensus; we are going to allow a free and fair process.”
On the Electoral Act Amendment Bill passed recently by the National Assembly, he noted that the direct primaries, enshrined in the bill, for nomination of candidates of all political parties for elective positions, is not in the best interest of the country.
Consequently, the Benue governor charged President Muhammadu Buhari to return the bill to the parliament, so that the proposed electoral law, is further amended to give political parties the latitude to determine the mode of primaries, before the bill is signed into law.