PDP convention: Northern caucus sets up screening committee

The Northern Leaders Forum of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has constituted a 16-member committee to screen aspirants from the zone who are vying for national offices in the party.

Jerry Gana, convener of the forum, made this known to journalists at the end of a meeting of the group in Abuja on Saturday.

The meeting, according to him, was in preparation for the party’s national convention scheduled for August 17 in Port-Harcourt, Rivers state capital.

Gana said the committee, which has members from all the northern states, has Ibrahim Mantu as chairman.

“The mandate given to the committee is to screen all the aspirants from the northern states and ensure that credible persons are presented at the convention,” he said.

“The committee will help us to screen, discuss and interact with the aspirants so that you will know the people behind the submission that we will make.

“We want this committee to do its best to ensure that they recommend the best candidates.

“If they are not good, we don’t want to waste our votes. When we are voting, we will not put them on our agenda.”

Gana, who is also the chairman of the reconciliation committee of PDP’s board of trustees (BoT), affirmed that the national convention would hold as scheduled.

He urged all northern leaders of the party to mobilise their people for the exercise.

“The national convention of the PDP scheduled for the August 17 will hold,” he said.

“I hereby encourage all our delegates from the northern part of Nigeria to be in Port Harcourt. In fact, ‎our next meeting will be in Port Harcourt before the convention begins.

“We want to assure you that by the grace of God, adequate arrangement will be made for security.

“We are never intimidated by the kind of things people are talking. We are going to Port Harcourt.

“This party needs to be solid so that we have national officers that will direct the affairs of this party.”

Also speaking, Mantu said no member of the committee would be allowed to contest for any position at the convention.