PDP Convention: How Northern Stakeholders Adopted Turaki As Consensus Candidate For Chairman

• Chieftains say choice arrived at without rancour

More facts emerged on Thursday on how former Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, SAN, was adopted as consensus candidate of the North for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairmanship race at the forthcoming elective convention of the party.

The convention is scheduled for Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The position had earlier been zoned to the North after the party ceded the presidential ticket for the 2027 polls to the South.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that the adoption of Turaki came after a lengthy negotiation among interested parties and aspirants in the three geopolitical zones of North-West, North-East and North-Central, though the PDP’s original target was to have the chairman come from the North-West, as the result eventually turned out to be on Wednesday.

Adamawa State governor and chairman of the Convention Organising Committee (NCOC), Honourable Ahmadu Fintiri, announced the choice of the minister as the preferred candidate of the North after a meeting held in Abuja.

Party leaders and stakeholders from the 19 northern states agreed to the choice of Turaki, but with former presidential aspirant, Dr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, being absent at the meeting, it is unclear if he had given up his ambition to be on the ticket or at least have the chairman come from the North-Central.

Besides Olawepo-Hashim, in the North-West, where the position was zoned to, names like former governor of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, and Sule Lamido had also come up before the consensus decision was concluded.

However, Fintiri clarified that anyone still wishing to contest the position was free to do so.

“That is what our constitution says. Anybody is still free to contest but our candidate is Turaki,” he said.

The governor added: “We have met this evening to deliberate and take a decision on the office of the chairman of our great party, the PDP, which was zoned to the North.

“In our meeting, we have reflected deeply and widely through consultation, and going to Ibadan for our national convention, we have adopted a consensus candidate to represent the North, and by extension, Nigeria, as the chairman of the PDP.

“That gentleman is KT Turaki, SAN. This is our decision this evening, and he is the person we are presenting at that convention as our chairman to represent our party on the 15 and 16 of November in Ibadan.”

Responding to a question on speculation that some party members were not comfortable with the zoning arrangement, he said: “I will not want to preclude what others are speculating outside, but we are gentlemen, and you can see all of us, we are leaders.

“We represent each of the states in the North, the 19 states, including Abuja, the FCT. And this is our decision, and we expect this is the lineup of our delegates in Ibadan.”

On steps being made to woo back defectors from the party or to reconcile with members that had stayed aloof like the former governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, the NCOC chairman said efforts were being made to keep the party united.

He stated: “PDP is an institution, and we have mechanisms to handle all these issues. And we’ll reach out and we’ll talk to each other.

“We have been talking to ourselves, not today, not yesterday. This is a build-up of consensus in the last two weeks, and we have just a consultation, and this is just the result. And I’m assuring you that the convention will be a rancour-free convention.”

Fintiri further stated that all other positions zoned to the North would be sorted out eventually without rancour.

He explained: “All others (positions) will be resolved at the regional level, and they will present their candidates along with others for us to present at the convention.

“Altogether, we have ten positions in the North as far as the convention is concerned. But nevertheless, anybody who still feels he will want to contest in any position is free, and this is what our position has allowed.

“We are not excluding anybody. But then, we have just announced to you our consensus candidate, as far as these leaders are concerned.

“But if anybody still feels he wants to contest, I have said it time without number, that the door is open.”

Among the leaders who attended the meeting or consented to the consensus choice of Turaki were the national chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagum; chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed; governor of Plateau State, Caleb Muftwang; governor of Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal; governor of Taraba State, Agbu Kefas; secretary of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Ahmed Makarfi; Minority Leader of the Senate, Abba Moro; and former president of the Senate, Bukola Saraki.

Also in attendance were Sule Lamido, Professor Jerry Gana, Senator Hassan Dankwambo, Ibrahim Shekarau, Mike Omeri, Humphrey Abba, and Mohammed Goronyo.

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