Ahead of the Presidential primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) slated for October, the leadership of the party has initiated moves to curtail a possible post-convention crisis, given the growing number of aspirants for the office of President.
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, led by Prince Uche Secondus late Wednesday night, met with 12 of the Presidential aspirants at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.
The meeting, which had in attendance prominent aspirants including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Senate President Bukola Saraki, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, Tanimu Turaki and former governors of Sokoto, Kaduna, Plateau and Kano State-Attahiru Bafarawa, Ahmed Makarfi, Jonah Jang and Ibrahim Shekarau respectively, amongst others, As stated by party sources, succeeded in having the contenders swear to a single goal.
As stated by the source who pleaded anonymity, the party prevailed on the Presidential hopefuls to eschew negative utterances capable of hurting the electoral fortune of the PDP in the 2019 elections.
He said: “By and large, we reminded them (aspirants) that whatever happens to the party, happen to all of us. We charged them to be civil in their utterances and reminded them that the world is watching how the party will come up with its Presidential candidate.
“Perhaps, the biggest take-away from the meeting was the agreement entered into by all the aspirants to support whoever emerges winner of the sole ticket after the primaries. They assured us that they would stay put in the party regardless of the outcome of the primary election.”
Thus far, 13 aspirants are gunning for the sole ticket of the PDP as the party insists it would not compel the contenders to adopt one of them as a consensus candidate.