The Nation Newspaper

Tag: consensus candidate

  • Nasarawa governorship aspirants to choose consensus candidate

    Ten governorship aspirants from the three major political parties in Nasarawa State have met to agree on a consensus candidate irrespective of political affiliations.

    They include aspirants of the All Progressive Congress (APC); Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), from Eggon.

    At a meeting of Eggon Council of Elders convened by the Paramount Ruler, Dr. Bala Angbazo, the aspirants vowed to abide by the pledge.

    Attendees at the meeting include Labaran Maku  (APGA); Solomon Ewuga (PDP); Godiya Akwashiki  (APC); Patricia Akwashiki (PDP); James Angbazu  (APC), Adamu Adogi (APC); Inusa Mohammed (APC); Danladi Envuluanza (APC); Dauda Kigbu (APC) and Mathew Ombugaku (Rebuild Party).

    Chairman of the Eggon Council of Elders Jato Anga, who spoke after the meeting, said they are on a collective mission to ensure that an Eggon man becomes the next governor.

    He lamented that Eggon people constitute over 60 per cent of the total population yet have not governed the state since it was created in 1996.

    “If you want to defeat an enemy, you sit and plan; and that is exactly what we have done. This time around, we have all agreed to come together irrespective of party affiliations, to ensure that an Eggon man becomes the next governor, and they have all agreed to work together.”

  • Ekiti: Aspirant backs APC elders on consensus candidate

    Ekiti: Aspirant backs APC elders on consensus candidate

    Former Majority Leader of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon. Funminiyi Afuye, has thrown his weight behind the choice of Dr. Wole Oluyede as the All Progressives Congress (APC) preferred candidate from Ikere-Ekiti. Afuye condemned the opposition of two aspirants, Muyiwa Olumilua and Kola Alabi, to Oluyede’s selection, saying it was wrong for the duo to have agreed to the process at a private parley and come out to condemn it in the open.

    He hailed the role played by Ikere Development Forum (IDF) led by eminent lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), in narrowing down Ikere’s APC aspirants to one, arguing that the process was democratic and not an imposition. The five APC aspirants who participated in the process were Oluyede, Afuye, Olumilua, Alabi and Chief Sesan Fatoba. But Olumilua, son of a former governor, and Alabi have vowed to go ahead with their ambition and declared their readiness to participate in the state APC primary election.

    Olanipekun and other IDF members, in a bid to enhance Ikere’s chances of producing the next governor, called five APC aspirants from the town together at a meeting held in Lagos from February 11 to 12 and urged them to pick someone among themselves. When the aspirants could not agree among themselves who should be the town’s APC consensus candidate, they all agreed that the group should choose one of them and Oluyede, a medical practitioner and investor, emerged as the choice.

     

  • …SouthWest leaders, stakeholders insist on consensus candidate

    …SouthWest leaders, stakeholders insist on consensus candidate

    Leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West region may have resolved to do everything possible to ensure that the zone goes to the national convention of the party scheduled to hold next month with a consensus candidate for the position of national chairman.

    The decision, according to very reliable party sources, is to forestall a situation where the region will lose the coveted position of national chairman to the South-South region.

    Speaking to The Nation shortly after an emergency meeting of PDP leaders and stakeholders of the region in Lagos yesterday, a member of the party’s Board of Trustees, pleading anonymity, revealed that in spite of the criticism and condemnations that have trailed earlier efforts to reduce the number of chairmanship aspirants from the region, party leaders at the meeting resolved to move for a consensus candidate at all cost.

    He also said majority of the stakeholders at the emergency meeting which was called to discuss the chances of the region at the elective convention, threw their weight behind the call for a consensus candidate. The APC chieftain added that majority of the leading aspirants for the position from the Southwest were invited to the meeting.

    “Yes. We met. And the meeting was to discuss our chances as a region at the elective national convention holding in December. You will agree with me that many observers have been saying the Southwest may lose the chance to produce PDP’s national chairman for the first time if we fail to put our house in order before the December date of the convention.

    “What they are simply telling us is to reduce the number of chairmanship aspirants we are currently parading. We stand the risk of dividing our votes at the convention while the South South with less number of aspirants will get block votes and win the election. This is our dilemma and this is what we met to discuss today,” he said.

    According to him, the meeting among other things, discussed possible ways of improving the region’s chances of winning the coveted chairmanship seat and resolved to do everything humanly possible to go to the convention with only one candidate. He said party leaders have been mandated to champion the cause of getting a consensus candidate for the region in good time.

    “The meeting, though an emergency one, was well attended by leaders, chieftains and stakeholders from all the states in the region. Some of the aspirants themselves were in attendance. And after thorough deliberations, everything still boiled down to the fact and necessity that we need to put our house in order if we really want to win the chairmanship seat.

    “More meetings and consultations will be held and the process will be announced to ensure that it is fair to all those involved,” he added.

    The meeting, it was learnt also discussed an earlier report that the BoT members of the party in the region have reduced the number of aspirants to three, asking all others to drop their ambition in the overall interest of the region. Leaders and stakeholders at the meeting were said to have while agreeing that there is need to do something urgently, faulted the process adopted by the BoT members in arriving at their earlier decision.

    “Yes we discussed the earlier report but we all resolved to put that aside and put in place a more open process that will give us a result that will be acceptable to all and sundry. We are hoping that it will be better handled this time and at the end of the day, reasons and superior arguments will prevail in the interest of southwest PDP.

    “We want to get our acts together and do the needful before it is too late. That is why nobody is talking to the press about this just yet. We have to popularize the decision. We have to educate our people on the need to do this. We cannot force anything on anybody. We all have rights but we can all come together and reason in favour of our collective interest,” he said.

  • APC chieftain urges Anioma on consensus candidate

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State, Chief Emmanuel Ndoka Ogwuda, has urged the people of Anioma to pick a consensus governorship candidate ahead of the 2019 general election.
    He said this became imperative following the emergence of new political platforms and agitations, “seeking to alter political understanding hitherto established by leaders of thought to foster peaceful co-existence, mutual development and ethical harmony.
    Ogwuda said: “We have taken notice of ominous plots by some desperate politicians to scuttle the political zoning arrangement for the governorship position, which was established since 1999. When the current democratic dispensation took -off, Delta Central District was endorsed and massively supported to produce the governor.Then Delta South took its turn before it came to Delta North”.
    He said zoning of the governorship position must remain sacrosanct, adding that it should been respected by all parties, pressure groups and lobby platforms.
    “As far as committee members of the APC are concerned, the governorship position is non-negotiable and our party, the APC, should work in this direction to deliver a candidate of APC from Anioma extraction”.
    “I am therefore vehemently opposed to the rumoured plot to zone the leadership of Delta State chapter of APC to Delta North in the forthcoming party congress, with the plan to alter the governorship zoning arrangement in favour of another senatorial district .This ill-conceived agenda will strangle the rapidly booming popularity of the APC in the state and eventually kill the party as a widely accepted alternative platform in Delta State”.

  • 2015: Taraba South insists on consensus candidate

    2015: Taraba South insists on consensus candidate

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders in Taraba South District have adopted Chief David Kente as their consensus candidate for next year’s governorship election. They advised the former Defence Minister, Gen. Yakubu Danjuma, to support his candidature, saying that he is popular.

    Danjuma is backing the Minister of State for Niger Delta, Mr. Darius Ishaku, for the position. The stakeholders alleged that the elder statesman has endorsed the minister without consultation with them.

    As the Southern Taraba’s consensus candidate Chief David Sabo Kente declares his governorship ambition in Wukari today, his people have urged General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd) to drop his choice for the state governor’s slot. They also said that Ishaku may not be in touch with the political realities because he has lived outside the state.

    The stakeholders said in a statement by  the Secretary of Screening Committee for aspirants, Chief D.S. Nyaturi, that Danjuma’s “unilateral and unpopular” decision is in conflict with the interest of the people. He said Taraba South will stand by the recommendation that Kente should be supported by the stakeholders.

    The community leader said Ishaku’s choice as the consensus candidate has implications for the PDP in next year’s elections.

    He said: “Naming the minister as the PDP candidate for Taraba South may likely cost the party the governorship seat, if the people’s grievances are not addressed and laid to rest.”

    The National President of the Jukun Development Association of Nigeria  (JDAN), Mr. Benjamin Bako Danborno, said for the sharing formula should be honoured by the stakeholders so that the slot will not slip away from the district.

    He appealed to those he described as the “Abuja based Southern Taraba elders, elitesand politicians” to reflect on the negative consequence of ishaku’s candidature.

    He said: “Let us all go back to the decision that was arrived at four months ago by all traditional rulers, youth groups, market women and religious leaders, who after one year of painstaking consultation

    across the nation, especially among Taraba State indigenes, arrived at an equitable, just and fair power sharing formula.

    “That power sharing formula necessitated the zoning of the governorship slot to Wukari Local Government an Area from where the consensus candidate earlier voted to represent them, Chief David Sabo Kinte, hails from. The senatorial slot was zoned to the Kuteg clan, while the House of Representatives slot went to the Chamba tribe,  Donga Local Government. Other key political officers were shared between the Tiv and Ichen people for political balancing and equity.”

    Danborno wondered why some politicians in Abuja would decide to upturn the power sharing formula and influence General Danjuma to make an unpopular decision that has trigered anger and protest by the people.

    He said: “We call on well-meaning people of the state to throw their weight behind Kente, who has distinguished himself and brought glory to Taraba in all spheres and vote him as the next governor.”