.As party fixes Aug, Sept for congresses in 28 states

By Joseph Erunke

ABUJA — THE national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, Mallam Bashir Ibrahim, has said the party would conduct all its ward, local and state congresses across the country in batches.

To this end, he said the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the party had not only penciled down 28 states, including Abuja, but also fixed between August 30 and September 3 for commencement of the staggered congresses.
Bashir, speaking to reporters in Abuja, shortly after emerging from the pre-congress meeting of the party’s highest decision-making organ, explained that congresses in the remaining eight states of the federation would take place in the second batch on a date to be announced.

He also said the zonal congresses and national convention of the party would take place in the third and final batch on dates to be fixed.
He said the staggering of the congresses and the national convention was not only to ensure quality and easier management of the exercise, but to also avoid the mistakes of other political parties in the conduct of congresses at all levels.

Political parties in the country have the tradition of holding specific congresses in all the states of the federation on the same day.
But speaking on the development, Mallam Ibrahim said the trend was wrong, insisting that it had not served Nigeria’s democracy and the parties very well, saying most of the wholesale congresses had ended up either inconclusive or of poor quality.

“Nothing in our democratic experience and political party process management supports wholesale congresses such as has become the practice of political parties in Nigeria today.
“The United States, with all its manpower, political experience and sophisticated communication infrastructure, staggers its congresses from state to state. In Nigeria, we do it across the whole country on the same day, mostly at the expense of quality, due process and the rule of law.

“We want to do it differently by breaking away from tradition and setting new standards for other political parties to copy down the line. Hopefully, we will also learn new things with this experiment,” he said.
According to the time table released by the national secretariat of the party and signed by the National Secretary, Dr. Oluwole Akinwunmi, the first batch of 28 states will hold their Ward Congresses on August 30, Local Government Area Congresses on September 1, and State Congresses on September 3, 2014.