Inaugurates Zoning Committee

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caretaker Committee said on Friday it was resisting pressure from many party leaders to sanction the embattled former National Chairman of the party, Ali Modu Sheriff.

This hint was dropped when the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee inaugurated its 89-man zoning committee headed by Ebonyi state governor, Dave Umahi, yesterday in Abuja.

Inaugurating the zoning committee, Makarfi said that the committee had only one week to conclude their exercise so that aspirants would be sure of positions allocated to their respective zones even as he stressed that there is no anointed candidate for any position.

He said: “You have one week to submit your report so that we can stop people looking for position that is not there.”

The committee, which was formerly 87 members, was later increased to 89 by Makarfi, when he noted that Lagos state was not represented.

Makarfi assured members of the party that they would be carried along, adding that the party would print many forms to accommodate every interested member seeking for elective position in the coming convention scheduled for August 17 in Port Harcourt.

He said: “It doesn’t make sense at all for the chairmanship of the party and the Presidency to be zoned to the North. In party politics all section should have a fair representation.‎ That was why the entire zoning arrangement was jettisoned.

“Whatever decision you make will be widely accepted by all. I do not see you coming up with recommendation that would be quarried. Open the political landscape and not restricting the chairmanship of the party to one corner.