By HENRY UMORU & EMMAN OVUAKPORIE
ABUJA— EIGHT days after the expanded national caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, came up with the zoning formula for top political offices, President Goodluck Jonathan has summoned the leadership of the party to yet another meeting to brainstorm on the state of the party.

Vanguard gathered that complaints and problems emanating from states with regard to the ministerial list is also becoming worrisome and would form part of the meeting.

This was part of the discussions at yesterday’s National Working Committee, NWC of the PDP, just as Vanguard gathered that the meeting which is slated for Sunday will be a follow up to the Wednesday 11th meeting where the party rolled out the zoning formula for top political offices.

Though there was no briefing at the end of the meeting, Vanguard learnt that President Jonathan will get feed back from the leadership of the party with regard to the zoning arrangement as well as assess complaints and acceptability of the zoning of the offices.

The meeting is expected to be an opportunity for the President, as leader of the Party, to get report on the proposed ministerial list following letters from the National Secretariat of the Party to state chapters requesting for ten names each to be considered for the ministerial appointments and members of board of parastatals.

The PDP had at the expanded caucus meeting zoned the Senate president to North Central, Deputy Senate president, South East; Speaker to the South West, Secretary to Government of the Federation, South East and the National Chairmanship position to North East.

Vanguard also gathered that the leadership of the PDP discussed the rebranding project that was introduced by the former National Chairman, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, but thrown out, with a view to revisiting it and bringing it on board again.

Vanguard gathered that PDP leadership at yesterday’s meeting discussed the proposed retreat for elected members on the platform of the party, but could not agree on a date against the backdrop that retreats were presently going on in the geo-political zones of the country, even as the party was said to be planning an induction workshop for its elected members.

Plans A and B strategy

Meanwhile, as the race for leadership positions of the National Assembly heightens, strong indications emerged, yesterday, that members of the National Assembly are proposing plans A and B as a strategy to push aside the zoning arrangement of the PDP.

A source said that Plan A is to work assiduously for Aminu Tambuwal from the North West for the post of Speakership position though the PDP did not zone it to the area, while the House Whip, Emeka Ihedioha, is being pencilled for Deputy Speaker for the Plan A.

Plan B from the members is to frustrate the candidature of Muraina Ajibola as the favoured one for the Speakership position. These members are of the view that he is a stooge of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and are also pushing for an opportunity to punish him for writing a minority report as against the report of Ndudi Godwin Elumelu led probe panel. They hold that plan B is to position Mulikat Akande-Adeola for the Speakership position.

Feelers from the Presidency clearly indicate that a decision has not been made as to who should replace outgoing Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole for the Seventh Assembly between Honourables Muraina Ajibola and Mulikat Akande-Adeola even as a group in the North West is also insisting on the joint ticket of

Honourable Aminu Tanbuwal and Emeka Ihedioha for the Speaker and Deputy respectively.

Meeting at Obasanjo’s house

Vanguard investigations revealed that though Muraina has been given the nod as the South West choice by the South West PDP at the chieftains’ meeting at former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Hill Top home at Abeokuta but the presidency remains undecided about the zoning  the Speaker to the South West and the preferred candidates between Muraina and Mulikat.

Opponents of Muraina in the House are trying to cash in on the choice of venue, Obasanjo’s house, for the adoption of his candidature even though it has always been the regular venue for such a high profile decision for the party in the South west.

Muraina who was the secretary of the botched power probe committee led by Ndudi Elumelu is being allegedly linked with the failure of the committee.

It was also gathered that while both Muraina and Mulikat have shifted their campaign to Asaba venue of the on-going retreat for new legislators, the Tambuwal/Ihedioha team has also been penetrating into the ranks and files of the ranking lawmakers who are anti-zoning and prefer a North west/South east ticket to the status quo adopted by the PDP leadership.

However, the Tambuwal/Ihedioha ticket is also having a strong force to contend with in Honourable Farouk Lawan, a representative from Kano State and Chairman of the House committee on education who is also eyeing the office of Speaker.

Vanguard, however, learnt that when the chips are down, Farouk might step down for Tambuwal who is from Sokoto, the seat of the caliphate to clinch the office for a juicy committee chair offer.

Farouk and Tambuwal groups are, however, meeting a strong resistance from another group of returning members in the house which is insisting that rather than politics of zoning or non-zoning, emphasis should be placed on the integrity and competence of whosoever is likely to be the Speaker of the House and the entire leadership.

Collection of signatures

The group which has been able to collect signatures of over 70 ranking members is made up of lawmakers from the six geo-political zones of the country. They said their aim is to ensure that the in-coming members are not in any way linked with the rot of the past in order to save the country’s nascent democracy.

A member of the group said: “Our interest is to protect democracy, because it is democracy that brought all of us here. If you look at where Nigeria is coming from you will know that we have a responsibility to ensure that democracy is a success not only in Nigeria but the entire African continent.

“The whole world is looking up to this country to provide the leadership direction for the continent. If we fail, we would have disappointed our generation and the generation unborn and of course, the entire black race will surely not forgive us.”