Diri-led committee to include PDP 2027 presidential ticket zoning recommendations in report

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has directed its National Convention Zoning Committee (NCZC) to extend its mandate to zoning of the party’s 2027 presidential ticket.

The Chairman of the Committee and Governor of Bayelsa, Diri Duoye, said this during the committee’s meeting held on Monday at Legacy House, Abuja, ahead of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) 102nd meeting.

Governor Diri said that the committee had earlier completed its report, adding that the meeting was called to consider urgent directive issued to the committee.

Diri also commended the committee members for their dedication to the party.

He further intimated them that they had been directed to include zoning of the presidential ticket of the party along their other mandates.

According to him, “The governors had a meeting in Guzau, Zamfara State and in that meeting the party, the BOT and other organs of the party were represented.

“Former governors and ministers were represented and one of the decisions that arrived in that meeting is that we should not only zone the party offices, but as a national zoning committee, we should equally zone the presidency”, he added.

He also said, “After we gave our reports of what we had done in our last meeting, they were happy with our reports, but now directed that we should go ahead.

“The section of the constitution of our party that they quoted in our appointment letters is clear that we need to do the zoning of both the party offices and the presidency. So, we are going to look at that,” he said.

Diri also noted that they held the National Executive Committee meeting at 2 p.m same day.

“That’s why we convened this meeting earlier than the NEC meeting, so that we will take far-reaching decisions and finish our job and our assignment and report back to NEC what we have done,” he said.

Diri said that the committee report was ready for submission to the NEC meeting, which would make the final decision on the committee’s recommendations

He however did not disclose the recommendations of the committee, but said that the committee had satisfactorily carried out its responsibility.

“We just held a meeting of the Zoning Committee and we have concluded today. We are going to report to the National Executive Committee today at 2p.m,” he said.

On the allegation by some southern party leaders that they were not carried along, Diri said that the committee was only set up with specific responsibility of zoning, not micro zoning of positions.

“This committee is not a micro-zoning committee. This committee is a committee that is zoning offices to North and South. So, I don’t want to make comments on that,” he said.

Asked if the committee did satisfactory work in the interest of the party, Diri said that the NEC would make the necessary decision on the recommendations of the committee.

“By God’s grace, and by the collective wisdom and decisions that we have reached, I am very sure that by the time we give our report to NEC, it will decide whether our report has served the interests of the country or otherwise,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the committee was set up on Aug. 14 to determine the zoning arrangement for its national officers ahead of the November elective national convention.

The committee was given about two weeks to submit its reports to the 102nd NEC meeting of the party.

The acting PDP National Chairman, Umar Damagum, who inaugurated the zoning committee in Abuja, tasked the members to be guided by justice, inclusivity, and the vision of a stronger PDP.