Ahead of tomorrow’s elective national convention, the North-west caucus of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has been rocked by crisis over alleged imposition of candidates by leaders of the party.
The meeting of the caucus which held at the Abuja residence of a former ambassador and minister, Aminu Wali, ended in disarray forcing the immediate past vice president, Namadi Sambo, to storm out of the meeting.
The PDP will on Saturday elect national officers that will run the affairs of the party for the next four years.
The North-west geopolitical zone was allocated the offices of National Secretary, National Woman Leader, Deputy National Treasurer and Deputy National Legal Adviser.
The caucus meeting which began Thursday evening lasted up to early morning on Friday.
It was attended by prominent politicians of the party from the zone.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt that some top members of the PDP from the zone, led by Mr. Wali, decided for for the emergence of consensus candidates for all the positions allocated to the zone.
One of the aspirants to the office of deputy national legal adviser, Sani Mashi, said most of the attendees insisted that, “the days of impunity in the PDP are over and the internal democracy must be allowed to prevail”.
Mr. Mashi said all aspirants, who had already bought, filled and return their forms and were also successfully screened insisted that they will rather be defeated at Eagle Square than step down for any preferred candidate.
“They did not consult the aspirants, but will only call you with regimented finality to drop your ambition. That you either drop it or you can do what you want,” Mr. Mashi said.
He said the “authoritarian imposition” led to a stalemate in the meeting which subsequently ended in a deadlock.
“The immediate past Vice President Namadi Sambo eventually stormed out of the venue in protest,” he said.
Those who attended the meeting apart from Mr. Sambo include, former governors Ibrahim Shekarau, Attahiru Bafarawa, Sule Lamido, Ibrahim Shema and Ramalan Yaro.
Others include, Kabiru Turaki, Bello Halliru, Danjuma Laeh, Bello Hayatu Gwarzo,Ibrahim Sharu, Ibrahim Tsauri, Nenadi Usman and Baraka Sani among others.
It was also gathered that following the disagreements, the “hawks” in the meeting failed to impose a former senator, Ibrahim Tsauri from Katsina, over Abubakar Mustapha and Nenadi Usman for the post of National Secretary.
Similarly, Baraka Usman from Kano, who is interested in the position of National Woman Leader was told to step down for an “unknown Mariya Bala Waziri”, but she refused.
“The group also made a futile attempt to impose Wada Masu, an office clerk to Aminu Wali for the post of Deputy National Treasurer over Alh. Aminu Bala, a seasoned geologist and political administrator,” one of the leaders who attended the meeting said.
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