Ahead of its national convention later in the month, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has fixed a meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC) for Thursday.
This was disclosed in a statement by the party’s National Secretary, Umaru Tsauri, on Sunday in Abuja.
Mr Tsauri said the 94th NEC meeting, which will hold at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja, will discuss crucial matters.
“All members are enjoined to attend as the meeting will discuss crucial matters,” he said.
At its 93rd meeting on 9 September, the NEC constituted two committees, namely the national convention organising committee chaired by Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State and Zoning Committee headed by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.
The convention committee has since created subcommittees to ensure smooth organisation of the event.
The Zoning Committee last Thursday zoned the position of the national chairman of the party to the north while the rest national officers’ positions will be swapped between the north and the south.
The decision was announced by Mr Ugwuanyi after at least three meetings of the 44-member committee in Enugu.
Although Mr Ugwuanyi said his team never considered zoning of the presidential or vice-presidential ticket, there is a high possibility that the party will zone the apex political seat to the south as it did in the past.
The outgoing national chairman, Uche Secondus, who has been barred by court to stop parading himself as the occupier of that office, hails from the south.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the decision of the committee will form a major agenda of the meeting.
It was learnt that the party is eager to resolve all contentious issues before holding the National convention slated for 30 and 31 October.
There are speculations that despite the zoning of the position of the national chairman to the north, the party may throw its presidential ticket open to all the zones in the country.
Although the mood of the nation favours power shift to the south, some PDP faithful still hold the view that for the party to snatch power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 2023 poll, it would be expedient to field a northern candidate given the region’s voting population advantage.
Meanwhile, the APC may field a southern candidate since President Muhammadu Buhari whose tenure expires in 2023 is from the northern part of the country.
