PDP not in dilemma over number of presidential aspirants

Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says the party is not in dilemma as regards the number of its presidential aspirants.

There are at least 12 aspirants seeking the presidential ticket of the opposition party.

Addressing reporters after a meeting on September 6, Walid Jibrin, chairman of the party’s board of trustees (BoT), said the party was trying “its best to ensure a reduction in the number of aspirants”.

He disclosed that that a committee had been set up to discuss with the 12 presidential aspirants in order to come up with a consensus candidate.

This has fueled rumours that the party could be in a quandary in choosing its flag-bearer for the presidential seat.

But speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television breakfast show, Ologbondiyan said having an array of aspirants would afford the nation the opportunity to decide the best candidate that will govern the country.

“Let me clear the fact that we do not have a dilemma concerning our presidential aspirants in PDP, I need to make that clear from the onset,” he said.

“For us as a party, it is a very healthy development and we have no issues concerning the number of aspirants under the PDP; I say so because we have the opportunity to build Nigeria and it is in line with our freedom to choose who will best govern this nation.

“As you know and as every Nigerian is aware, the kind of governance that we have had under the All Progressives Congress (APC) in about three and half years to say the least, is distressing.

“We believe there is nothing wrong and we believe that the nation will benefit much more better with the array of aspirants that our party is parading because we have a right to choose whom we desire to govern our nation.

“The PDP is going to conduct a presidential primary through our national convention and by the end of this, it will be clear to Nigerians that what we have done will be credible and acceptable to Nigerians and members of our party.”

Asked why the BoT set up a committee for the aspirants, he replied that the platform is to engage the aspirants to express their desires.

“BoT serves as a conscience of our party and perhaps in their wisdom, they want to engage the presidential aspirants to see if some of them may want to stand down, that is, by themselves, not forcefully or by any other measure by the party because what the party recognise is the national convention which is the highest decision making organ of the party,” he said.

“But if the aspirants on their own submit themselves to a discussion, that will be within the confine of our constitution and the guidelines of our party, then it is not the responsibility of the party to stop them from doing that.

“What the national working committee, under the able leadership of Uche Secondus, is working on is a presidential primary that would be free, fair, credible, transparent and acceptable to Nigerians and every aspirant that has picked our form will have the opportunity to participate in our primaries.”