Barring any last minutes change in plan, former President of the Senate, David Mark, may emerge consensus northern candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national chairman in the October 30 national convention. Mark is expected to appear before Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri-led 20-member committee, for screening today. Other aspirants expected at the screening, which takes place at the party’s headquarters in Abuja are; Senator Ahmed Makarfi and Shehu Shema (North- West); Ibrahim Dankwambo and Suleiman Nazif (North-East) and Idris Idris (North-Central). All the 19 states in the north and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), are expected to nominate one person each to be screened by Fintiri’s committee.
This was the outcome of the caucus meeting held behind closed doors at the Bauchi State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja on Thursday night. The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party had met earlier and zoned the position of the national chairman to the north. The enlarged NEC had reportedly zeroed in on David Mark as the best candidate to lead the party out of the woods. But the camps of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and immediate past President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, initially opposed the micro zoning.
The Finitri committee is expected to recommend not more than three aspirants to the larger NEC before the national convention. Mark is seen as someone PDP needs at the moment to stabilise the party because of his character and leadership when he was chairman of the National Assembly The PDP Governors’ Forum is also of the consensus that Senator Mark, judging from his track record of stable leadership, will bring sanity and stability to the party.
