PDM to select 2015 candidates next month

Members of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) will elect national officers at the party’s inaugural national convention scheduled for October 31 and November 1, 2014 at International Conference Centre, Abuja.

This follows a resolution of the national executive committee of the party at its meeting of Thursday, October 16, 2014, held at the national secretariat in Abuja.

According to a statement issued by Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, national publicity secretary of the party, the national convention will be preceded by zonal congresses, which will hold on Friday, October 31 at the same venue.

At the zonal congresses, delegates are expected to elect a national vice chairman from each of the six geopolitical zones.

PDM earlier conducted its ward, local government area and state congresses in 28 states of the federation on August 30, September 1 and September 3, respectively.

The party’s publicity secretary listed the states as Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo in the southeast; Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo in the southwest; Niger, Plateau and FCT in the northcentral; Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe in the northeast; and Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara in the northwest.

Four more states – Adamawa, Kogi, Nasarawa and Rivers – will hold their congresses on Saturday, October 25, 2014 to bring the number of states that have concluded their congresses to 32.

Article 17, Sub-section 17.2.3 of the party’s constitution requires that two-thirds of the states of the federation are represented at the national convention.

In addition to electing national officers, the national convention will approve amendments to the party’s constitution to reduce the number of delegates to the convention, which currently stands at about 150,000, a number that is considered rather unmanageable by the party’s national executive committee.

The convention will also consider and approve, among other things, the mode of selection of members of board of trustees and the party’s audited accounts.

In a related development, PDM released the timetable and nomination fees for aspirants interested in contesting primary election to emerge as the party’s candidates for various offices in the 2015 general election.

According to the timetable, collection of expression of interest and nomination forms for various offices will open on November 3 and close on November 10, 2014, while all collected forms must be returned to the national secretariat by 5pm on November 13, 2014.

Expression of interest and nomination forms for state houses of assembly will be sold for N50,000 and N200,000 respectively; house of representatives N150,000 and N350,000; senate, 500,000 and N2 million; governorship N1 million and N4 million; while presidential aspirants will pay N5 million and N20 million respectively.

Aspirants are expected to pay into the party’s designated First Bank and Zenith Bank accounts, after which they would collect forms at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on presentation of evidence of payment obtained from the banks.

According to the party’s time table, primary election for state house of assembly will hold at designated places across the states of the federation on November 25, house of representatives on November 30, senate on December 2, and governorship on December 6.

The party will also hold a special national convention to elect its presidential flag bearer on December 9, 2014 in Abuja.

Calling on its members and the general public to take note of these events, dates and fees, PDM said it would not entertain any change or review.