ABUJA, Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Post-2015 General Election Committee set up by the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday said it has so far received a total of one thousand memoranda from concerned members of the party.
The committee headed by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu was set up following receipt of complaints from party stakeholders over issues relating to pre-election and post-election conduct of affairs of the party.
At yesterday’s meeting, the committee set up three task force teams to hold public hearings in the six geo-political zones of the country. The task force teams are expected to round off their assignment by July 10.
Former governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Makarfi is to head the committee for the South-south and South-east zones; Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedoku will be heading the North-east and North- west zones, while the former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha is to head the committee overseeing the North-central and South-west zones.
The committee is specifically tasked to collect and collate more information from members across the geo-political zones as Ekweremadu at the end of their meeting yesterday in Abuja disclosed that each of the task force teams would cover two geopolitical zones.
Speaking with journalists shortly after the committee’s meeting, Ekweremadu said although it has become imperative for PDP to embark on cost-cutting measures since its now in the opposition, the committee is under any financial pressure to carry its assignment.
According to him, PDP is still a strong force as it still controls 13 states and has a lot of members in the National Assembly.
“PDP is strong. We have members in the National Assembly and we appeal to our members to remain calm and be patient because we are working hard to reposition our party,” he said.
As part of measures to reposition the badly damaged ego of the party, Ekweremadu said the committee is going to put a template on the PDP website on how to deal with issues of primary elections, post primary issues; election and post-election issues.
He explained that part of the mandate of the committee was how finances were managed during the election.
The Deputy Senate President pleaded with PDP members nationwide to avail the committee of information and facts, which would assist them perform their duties, assuring that the parent committee will take all their submissions into consideration while writing the final report.
“We shall send three teams round the country to find out what happened in the various parts of the country before, during and after the party primary and the election. We urge all our members to avail these committees of credible information, which will help them arrive at the way forward.
“We are aware that some of our members are not happy with what happened. We assure you that we shall take all your input into consideration in the final report and annex them to the report.
“We expect that the committees will round off their assignment by July 10. In this respect, people who still have some input to make should also make use of the zonal visitations and to do so.
Reacting to a question that the committee was delaying the emergence of new national chairman of the party, Ekweremadu denied it saying, “we have our own ways of producing our leadership so, the work of this committee is not hampering us”.
Credit: ThisDay (Nigeria)
