Ex-PDP presiding officers assure of block votes for capable presidential aspirant

• …Setup 10-Man Committee to meet presidential aspirants

By Folorunso Alagbede, Abuja

The Forum of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) former presiding officers of State Houses of Assembly has pledged block vote for whoever emerges the presidential candidate of the party come May 28 during the presidential primary.

Towards this end, the Forum, which setup a 10-Man committee to interface with presidential aspirants ahead of the primary, said that whatever the party decide on the issue consensus, they will abide.

The Chairman of the Forum and former Speaker, Gombe state House of Assembly, Hon. Inuwa Garba, stated these yesterday while addressing

journalists after a meeting in Abuja, 

Hon. Garba explained that part of the mandates of the Forum is to liaise with the presidential aspirants and the PDP leadership to ensure a credible and successful presidential primaries as well as victory at the 2023 general elections. 

The Forum thus appealed, passionately,  to all PDP federal members and the leadership at all levels to remain committed and dedicated to the golden ideas of the party so that “we can ensure success at all levels in the coming elections in Nigeria.”

According to the Chairman of the Forum, “we have received submissions and interactions with most of the presidential aspirants and the Forum has decided to form this committee so that we can further check and see their capacity, credibility and make recommendation to larger general assembly of the Forum.”

He added that they decided to take a decision on behalf of “all of us on which candidate we can unanimously support, so that we can ensure successful conduct in the primaries and in the general election. 

“We don’t want our Forum members to go and vote randomly, we want to have a block vote for a particular candidate whom we agree has the capacity and credibility to win the general elections for the nation”, he said 

Commenting on the forum’s position on  the issue of consensus, Garba said: “That is not part of our mandate. We are not a political party, PDP is a political party and they’ve set up a committee on this issue. 

“Whatever the party resolves is binding on us, we are not to determined or to decide for the party”, he explained.

The Committee members are;  Hon. Inuwa Garba (Chairman); Rt. Hon. Prof. Matoh D. Dogara; Rt. Hon. Dr. Bakkita Bello; Rt. Hon. Dr. Boyelayefa Debekeme; Rt Hon. Prof. Rabiu A- Kurfi; Rt. Hon Williams Edor; Rt Hon. Jonas Okeka; Rt. Hon: Joyce Ramnap; Rt. Hon. Barr Friday Itula and Rt Hon. Kwamoti Laori.