ByJide Ajani, Deputy Editor

There are strong indications that the battle for the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, may have shifted to the National Assembly with a fresh proposal for an amendment to the Electoral Act 2010, Sunday Vanguard can reveal.

The proposal, according Sunday Vanguard has been made to understand, is for a return to the old arrangement where all delegates to the primaries of the party are not necessarily elected.

The fresh proposal seeks to include ministers and special advisers as delegates to the presidential primaries of the PDP.

Also, the proposal makes a case for a single convention for the emergence of a presidential candidate.

But the proposal is already generating its own heat in the National Assembly as other presidential aspirants in the PDP are said to be lobbying legislators against  it.
Conversely, Sunday Vanguard learnt  that state governors, too, may present their own proposal which would seek to include commissioners and special advisers as delegates to governorship primaries.

This is because of what a source said “is the need for equity and fairness for all.
“The new battle now for the PDP presidential ticket has moved to the National Assembly.

“What may happen should the fresh proposal be accepted is that incumbents may benefit more from the arrangement.

“But one thing we also have to remember is that that was the practice before and there was no problem with the arrangement until some state governors, in 2007, suddenly started appointing  dozens of special assistants so they can vote at the governorship primaries.

“It was that development which made the National Assembly to amend the 2006 Electoral Act.

“That amendment made it clear that only elected delegates to a party’s convention would have the powers to vote at the primaries”.

Sunday Vanguard learnt that most incumbents favour the fresh proposal while other contenders are lobbying to scuttle it.