The next presidential candidate of Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) will be chosen through popular vote in an election to be conducted nationwide rather than through the usual national convention.
This is part of the reforms planned by the former ruling party in its bid to recapture power on the 2019 presidential election.
The party plans to adopt Option A4 which will require voters to line up behind their preferred candidates or their pictures reminiscent of the process adopted by the General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida military regime.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Olisa Metuh, confirmed this in Abuja on Friday while receiving former Chairman of Ghana’s former ruling party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP),
Peter Mac Manu, at the national secretariat in Abuja.
He noted that the proposal was part of the recommendations by the Senator Ike Ekweremadu committee which reviewed the performance of the party in the last general election.
Metuh said: “We are going to change our system to be that our presidential candidate would be voted for by all party members in the country. It would be done at the ward level. We would no longer elect presidential candidates at the national convention.
“It would now be for every party member to vote for whoever would be our presidential candidate. Whoever would vie for our presidential ticket, would have to tour the entire country before he can be elected.
“This is part of the reform we are coming up with. Basically, this (May convention) would be the last convention where we would have people to be elected at the national convention. We are taking the party back to the Nigerian people.
“This is part of the reforms that was contained in the Ike Ekweremadu’s committee recommendation.”
The party spokesman added that the Option A4 would be adopted, saying that candidates for other positions would similarly be elected through the process.
According to him, “We intend to elect our presidential candidate starting from ward level. We are going to apply Option A4 in electing our presidential candidates.
“It is not going to be restricted to presidential election but others like governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives and all, everybody would be elected from the ward level.
“People would have to queue up behind the candidates of their choice. These proposed amendments have been sent to the state chapters for their inputs in line with our desire to have peoples opinion.”
Metuh explained why people were defecting from the party, saying that they were joining the ruling party to escape persecution or hunger.
He said: “In Nigeria, people defect for various reasons. Some people defect because they are hungry, they are not well treated. While others defect because they want to be part of the cake from the ruling government or the party in power.
“Whereas, others also defect because they are afraid of persecution in the belief that once they belong to the ruling party, they are safe from all manner of embarrassments.”
Speaking earlier, Mac Manu spoke of the reforms his party undertook to regain power after being voted out.
“When we lost election, there was need to review and make amends and these amends led to some critical reforms in the party structure and organisation”.
“We realised for example, that the modus operandi of how our presidential candidate was elected had a hand in why we lost the general election”, he said.
He called for Presidential Transition Act in Nigeria which would determine how any party in power behaved towards the opposition and protect the rights of such opposition.
Using change of power in Ghana as an example, he said: “Because when we got power in 2000, our opponents said were harassing them and when they got power back in 2008, we also said they were harassing us.
“So, there was a need to sit down and fashion out a Presidential Transition Bill or Act that would design how power should go from one party to the other.”
He said the Act dealt with things that can be done and things that cannot be done when power changed hands.
Manu added: “Unless you get that perspective, people will continue to harass each other in future transition.
“Also with the change, when we came to power in 2000, they said we were harassing them and now, they got power back in 2008 and we are saying they are harassing us. At least, there is some sense of balance. So, it became clear that anyone of us can lose power.
“So, if you got it, give your opponents genuine human rights respect because you can also go into opposition.”
The former Ghanaian party boss commended former President Goodluck Jonathan and Nigeria’s political parties for the success of the 2015 general elections.
