Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will wait for more time to know which region will produce the party’s presidential candidate.
The National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting yesterday ended without resolving the contentious issue of zoning.
The party resolved to set up a 37-member committee to make recommendations on vexed issue.
Members of the committee will be raised from the six political zones. They will be given two weeks to submit their report.
However, despite not taking a decision on zoning, the NEC approved various fees for the expression of interest and nomination forms for all elective positions.
Sale of the forms begins today. This has fuelled speculations that the party might have floated its presidential ticket.
There have been growing agitations that the presidential ticket should go to the South.
The party pegged the expression and nomination forms at N40 million (non-refundable) for the presidential ticket.
Spokesman Debo Ologunagba, who briefed reporters, said N5 million out of the N40 million is for the Expression of Interest Form.
The fees for governorship aspirant is N21 million (N20 million for nomination and N1m for expression of interest); senatorial aspirant will pay N3.5m (N3 million for nomination and N500, 000 for expression of interest); House of Representatives aspirant will pay N2.5 million (N2m for nomination and N500 thousand for expression of interest.
Any aspirant into the House of Assembly will pay N1.5 million (N1 million for nomination and N500, 000 for expression of interest.)
The NEC also approved a 50 per cent reduction in nomination fees for youths aged 25 to 30 years for various elective positions.
Ologunagba added that membership of the zoning committee will be nominated from each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The committee will make recommendations on whether to zone the presidential ticket or to leave the race open.
It will also recommend zoning formula for principal offices in the two chambers of the National Assembly among the six geopolitical zones.
The NEC also approved the timetable for presidential, National Assembly and State Assembly primary elections. The party had not released details of the timetable as of the time of filing this report.
At NEC meeting, chaired by the PDP National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, were: Board of Trustee (BoT) Chairman, Walid Jibrin; Senator Ike Ekweremadu, former PDP chairman Okwesilieze Nwodo; former Senate presidents Dr. Bukola Saraki, Pius Anyim and Adolphus Wabara.
Others were: one-time Kaduna State Governor, Ahmed Makarfi, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, Abubakar Baraje, Ndudi Elumelu, PDP governors, Chief Jim Nwobodo, past and serving members of the National Assembly.