The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has assured party members that its National Convention to elect the party’s presidential candidate for the 2019 election will be transparent and successful.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, gave the assurance while addressing newsmen on the party’s preparation for the convention scheduled for Saturday in Port Harcourt.
Kola said that the party had put in place strategies to carry all the aspirants along in the processes of the convention.
“We are going to hold a successful convention.
“Arrangements have been made in such that each presidential aspirant will nominate two people to be members of the accreditation Committee for we are very concerned about the process of the convention.
“Also, each of the aspirants will nominate two people to be part of the electoral committee.
“The essence of these is to showcase the transparency and the openness of the process. As a party, we are very concerned about the process of the national convention primary.
“We are doing everything possible to carry everybody along. Unlike where the presidential aspirants only nominate agents, they will be part of the process to nominate members of the accreditation and electoral committee.”
He added that PDP would also publish names of all the delegates and make same available to all Presidential aspirants before the convention.
Ologbondiyan said that the openness of the process was also to show that the party leadership had no interest on any of the aspirants but to allow the people to elect a winning candidate.
“We believe that all our aspirants are eminently qualified and whoever emerges from the process that will be put forward on Saturday will be such a candidate that understands the nuances of Nigeria and pains of Nigerians,” he said.
Responding to a question on whether the aspirants were forced into accepting Port Harcourt as venue of the convention, Ologbondiyan said “members of the National Executive Committee, NEC, as well as all Presidential aspirants unanimously settled for Rivers State’’.
He also expressed optimism that there would not be any post-convention crisis, but in case it arose, “the party has its internal conflict resolution mechanisms to deal with such’’.
