Despite the pending suit seeking to stop the planned National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scheduled for November 15 and 16 in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the main opposition party on Saturday appointed a 13-member committee to screen aspirants seeking elections headed by a former Ondo State governorship candidate of the party, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede (SAN).
This is just as the PDP in Kebbi State has rejected the reported nomination of Kabiru Tanimu Turaki as the consensus candidate for the party’s National Chairman, citing a lack of consultation with stakeholders in the North-west zone.
Justice James Omotoso of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has fixed October 31 to deliver judgment in the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2120/2025, seeking to stop the PDP’s planned convention.
The suit was filed by the PDP chairman in Imo State, Austine Nwachukwu; Abia State chairman of the party, Amah Abraham Nnanna; and South-south secretary of the party, Turnah George, all allies of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Nyesom Wike.
The presiding judge fixed the ruling date last week after hearing final arguments from the parties in the case.
However, the main opposition party seems unfazed by the pending judgment as the Chairman of the Convention Organising Committee (NCOC) and Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Fintiri, announced the setting up of a 13-member committee.
While former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; former Governor of Imo State, Achike Udenwa; Mrs. Josephine Anenih; Hajiya Mariam Chiroma; Felix Hassan Hyat; Emmanuel Enoidem; Mrs Aduke Maina; and Zainab Maina are members of the committee, Hon. Mohammed Diri is the deputy chairman.
The secretary of the committee is Asue Ighodalo, with Jacob Otorkpa as his deputy.
The screening, according to the NCOC, begins on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the PDP in Kebbi State has rejected the reported nomination of Turaki as the consensus candidate for the party’s National Chairman, citing a lack of consultation with stakeholders in the North-west zone.
PDP leaders from the Northern part of the country, including governors, had unanimously endorsed Turaki, a former Minister of Special Duties, as their consensus candidate for the position of national chairman ahead of the party’s November convention.
However, Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, after a meeting of Northern PDP leaders held on Wednesday night in Abuja, clarified that the endorsement did not preclude other aspirants from contesting.
But while addressing journalists in Birnin Kebbi on Saturday, the PDP Publicity Secretary in the state, Sani Dododo, rejected the endorsement.
He noted that the decision to reject Tanimu as PDP’s national chairman was based on the speculations that he was handpicked for the position without consultation.
He said, “The party decided that the North-west zone should be allowed to select its own candidate for the position in line with the party’s zoning arrangement.”
Dododo added that the party’s leadership in the state had distanced itself from Turaki’s reported nomination because they did not consult with PDP members in the state before throwing his hat into the ring.
He urged the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to permit the North-west to produce its own consensus candidate.
“The North-west elders should be allowed to sit down, deliberate, and produce a candidate that will represent the zone,” he said.
Chuks Okocha
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