Plateau State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appears to be striving to heal itself after the terrible loss it suffered at the hands of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the 2015 governorship election.

Smarting from that bitter loss, the party intends to use the forthcoming congresses to reset itself and show its ready to reclaim power in 2019.

The ward congresses of the party in the state will start on April 20, local government congresses is slated for April 30, while the state congresses of the party billed for May 7, 2016.

As such, the party zoned the position of the State chairman of the party to Northern senatorial district of the state. The central zone will produce the Deputy Chairman while the Southern zone of the state will produce the secretary of the party.

With this zoning arrangement, the 2019 governorship ticket of the party has been moved from the Northern part of the state to Southern zone, a move which aims to end series of agitation that cost the party to 2015 governorship election in the state.

This zoning formula was adopted by the party caucus  at a meeting held at the party’s state secretariat in Jos. Two former governors of the state Senator Joshua Dariye and Senator Jonah David Jang were in attendance at that crucial meeting that was called to chart the way forward for the party ahead of the April party congresses in the state.

PDP had always laid claim to Plateau as its political turf. Besides the fact that the party’s pioneer national chairman, late Chief Solomon Lar, is from the state, PDP held its first national convention in 1998 in Jos, Plateau State capital.

By 2015 however, PDP, having governed the state since 1999 through very tough times, apparently ran out of goodwill with the masses following succession squabbles.

The imposition of governorship candidate had deprived the southern zone from getting the ticket. Inevitably, the resultant defections and protest votes by PDP members contributed immensely to the party loss at the governorship polls.

However sources from the party’s recent caucus meeting disclosed that the members agreed on a template to be used at the forthcoming congresses.

The state Publicity secretary of the party Hon. Peter Shyepsuk who confirmed this new development said  ‘’we agreed to continue with what has been on the ground in the party, the position of the chairman was agreed to be given to the northern zone  and all other positions that goes with it. Same thing with central and Southern zone ’’ he stressed.

According to him, those aspiring for party positions  have been showing up at the party secretariat to indicate their interest to vie for party positions that were zoned to their zones.

The Plateau PDP spokesman  insisted that they still believe that Plateau is still for PDP in spite of what happened  during the 2015 general elections that the party lost the seat of the governor of the state to the then opposition party, the APC.

‘’What cost of us that election was the problem of imposition  of candidates in that election that people rose up to say no to.

He disclosed that even those that initially defected from PDP have started coming back to the party having realized that they could not get anything from the APC on the Plateau.

He added that his party has commenced aggressive move to embark on reconciliation  with the aggrieved members of the party especially those who came out openly to work against the PDP in the state during the 2015 general elections.

On the 2019 governorship ticket of the party, the party’s spokesman said, hopefully this opportunity may be given to the people of the Southern zone of the state, arguing that if not because of imposition of candidate, the PDP Governorship ticket could have been given to somebody from the southern zone of the state in 2015 to take over from Jang.

According to him, “they have  realized their mistakes and have resolved to come together to chart a new course for the party in the state.”

But prior to the zoning, the acting state chairman of the party, Mr. Raymond Dabo, was asked to vacate his seat to enable the central zone fill up the vacancy.

Dabo became acting state chairman of the party in 2014 following the resignation of the substantive Chairman Dr. Haruna Dabin, who resigned to contest the party’s governorship ticket during the 2015 general elections.

The resignation of Dr. Dabin created room for his deputy, Raymond Dabo to replace him in acting capacity.

However, people of Plateau central zone have asked the acting chairman to vacate his seat on the basis that the position was zoned to Platea central while the acting Chairman is from Plateau South.

Hon. Joshua Akans on behalf of Plateau central PDP caucus said the office of state chairman of the party was supposed to be occupied by the zone.

In a statement he said “following the decision of a federal high court in December 2015, that asked former acting national chairman of the party Prince Uche Secondus to vacate his office on the bases of zoning, the same situation applied to the acting state chairman in Plateau state to follow the same step and vacate his office.

“The call on Hon. Dabo to quit has became necessary in view of the fact that there is subsisting court judgement which has pronounced that the existing zoning arrangements of the party should be respected.

“Plateau central zone, is the only zone that can fill that office and we expect the acting chairman to vacate the office without delay to allow the right zone to bring a replacement.

“Since the candidate of Plateau central zone resign to contest election, we should be given the opportunity to bring his replacement to complete the zoning arrangement of our great party.

“We have also noticed that since the acting chairman got to the office he has never summoned stakeholders meeting to discuss on various issues affecting the future of the party in the state.

“We therefore urged the National working committee (NWC) and the National executive (NEC) to impress on Hon. Dabo to resign immediately.

However, the acting chairman, Raymond Dabo in a swift reaction insisted that the seat of the state chairman of the party he currently occupy is not vacant.

Mr. Dabo, in his response to the call said its only the State Executive Council (SEC) who confirmed his office that has the power to remove him.

Dabo said, “In any case, I need to inform those who want me out of the office that the state party congress has been slated for March next month and anyone who want my seat can contest.

“But until the congress is held next month, I remain the state chairman of the party” said, Dabo.

Meanwhile, state chairmanship candidates have started jostling for the position.

A chairmanship candidate of the PDP in the state, Hon. Philip Asanato Adik, from Plateau North blamed the failure of the party during the 2015 General Election on lack of internal democracy designed to scheme out some aspirants.

He vowed that if given a chance to run an all inclusive party politics that will reconciled aggrieved members for a formidable and issues driven opposition ahead of 2019.

He said “it is still fresh in our minds the dishonourable and manipulation of internal processes which was designed primarily to scheme out able aspirants out of contention to various political offices. We are also living witnesses to the contemptuous machination of some clique in the party to suit their personal interest.

“We have witnessed a situation where grave ineptitude and insensitive to the aims and political aspirations of some members was highly exhibited. We all know how the supremacy of our party was grossly abused. So bad was the situation that some party officials surrendered their official functions to a cable in government and defended to serve the appointees of the head of the cabal on electoral matters which are primarily, party functions”.

Hon. Adik who vowed to show political will added “We shall undertake a radical departure from the murky waters of convoluted politics and run a decent and all encompassing people oriented political party that new comers can readily key into.

“We shall build a strong party, provide leadership and foster strong bonds of unity, peaceful co-existence, mutual respect and confidence among members. We shall provide leadership based on justice and equality” he stated.

In same vein, a former member of the House of Representatives and Chieftain of the PDP, Hon. Bitrus Kaze, said he is vying for the Chairmanship of the party in Plateau State, to foster genuine reconciliation and forgiveness among members.

Kaze who is also from Plateau North  said “I am the right man for this job for a variety of reasons. Firstly, I have a deep understanding of the issues and challenges that plague our great party and I am confident that I have the solutions for them.

He assured that he was not vying for the position for selfish reasons but because he wants to foster genuine reconciliation and forgiveness between the various camps which emerged during the 2015 elections.

According to the former Federal Lawmaker, “one of my strong attributes is that I continually tell people the truth. To illustrate this point, I was one of the first persons who came out clearly to tell our then leader, Governor Jonah Jang the truth that, the position he was taking by jettisoning zoning would lead to defeat, and ultimately that happened.

“I told Jang the truth, at the risk of my political career and not caring what the consequence was to me as a person. Perhaps if I had not done so, I might have returned back to the House of Representatives, but having the principles that I have, I could not see how I could remain quiet while such was being done.

“Since telling the truth to our then leader, my position has been vindicated, because the Committee setup by the National Secretariat of PDP, led by Senator Ike Ekwerenmadu to undertake forensic investigations as to why the party lost the elections on the Plateau, determined that because PDP failed to respect the zoning arrangement on the Plateau, people dumped the party for the APC.

Kaze who represented Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency, maintained that, If elected as Chairman, he will come with his antecedents of “integrity, credibility and forthrightness, among others, to help in rebuilding the party”.

With respect to the factions within the party, Kaze said, while it is normal to have such in every political party, he stressed it becomes an issue when the factions attempt to subvert or subjugate party structures because of individual interest.

“Undoubted, after the bruising campaign of 2015, some people’s allegiance is with the leader of the past administration in the State and some others with other party leaders, but the reality is that the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) and the respective caucuses owe it to the party to be fair and equitable so as to carry everyone along and do away with these divisions”, he advised.

Besides, Rt Hon. Titus Alams Chairman the Coalition of PDP Patriots rising from a meeting of the PDP Patriots in Jos, urged all those contesting the chairmanship of the Party in the State as well as those seeking other offices, from ward to national levels, to eschew bitterness and have the overall interest of the party at heart no matter what happens before, during and after the Congresses and Convention.

He assured the PDP faithful that the party will come back to power again in 2019 considering the way APC is squandering of goodwill the people of Nigeria gave them in the last general elections.

He pointed out that economic hardship, non-availability of petroleum products, unemployment and reversal of promises are the realities that stare Nigerians in the face.

An important feature of the Group’s meeting, which held on Wednesday, March 9, 2016, was the presence of five Chairmanship aspirants who had earlier indicated their desire to address the Group.

Each aspirant was invited turn by turn to present his manifesto. The aspirants included Mr. Damishi T. Sango, former Minister of the Federal Republic;  Hon. Bitrus Kaze, former member of the House of Representatives; Hon. Chris A. Hassan, former Commissioner Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs/Works; Hon. Jacob Adikaba, former Chairman, Bassa LGC ; Hon. Jonathan Dabo, also a former Chairman of Bassa LGC all from plateau north and Hon. Philip Asanato Adik among others.

The Rt Hon Alams thanked the aspirants for addressing the Patriots, and promised, on behalf of members, to create a level playing ground for them and those aspiring to occupy other positions in the party.

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Intrigues as Plateau PDP prepares for congresses