O. Adejo
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has called an emergency meeting to discuss urgent issues, including the postponement of its national convention scheduled for Saturday, 28th May 2022.
The NWC emergency meeting is expected to iron out issues around the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to extend the deadline for conclusion of party primaries across the country.
Earlier, INEC in a statement said it was urged by an association of political parties to give additional time for primaries due to outstanding issues arising from the exercise nationwide. This made INEC extend the deadline from June 3 to June 9.
For this reason, the PDP summoned its officials to discuss the implications of this move and to agree on whether or not the deadline extension gives the All Progressives Congress (APC) an undue advantage in the coming elections.
The PDP had scheduled its presidential primary for May 28-29; while the APC picked May 29-30, and both parties admitted the one-day gap won’t be sufficient for any outward manoeuvre on the part of the ruling party.
For some weeks now, the APC has been grappling with whether or not the party would allow all its aspirants take part in the exercise or cancel its presidential primary altogether for a consensus candidate.
However, postponing the primaries after all the delegates have gathered in Abuja, might come at a steep price for the PDP.
PDP holds emergency meeting opts to postpone primaries