Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party have called an emergency meeting for today to decide who to support during the 9th National Assembly leadership poll, The PUNCHlearnt on Wednesday night.
The meeting is expected to be attended by the 16 PDP governors.
Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, who is also the Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, will preside over the meeting.
The meeting, which is expected to start by 7pm, is likely to be attended by the National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus.
Investigations by our correspondent indicated that the governors decided to meet in order to take a stand on who to support among those aspiring to lead the National Assembly.
It was learnt that the party had not been comfortable with some of its members said to be hobnobbing with some of the aspirants.
Two members of the All Progressives Congress in the Senate, Ahmad Lawan and Ali Ndume, have openly declared their intentions to vie for the Senate presidency.
A former Governor of Gombe State, Danjuma Goje, is said to also be interested in the race.
It was learnt that he had told his associates that he would not vie for the office, but allegedly promised to convince about 20 senators to vote for his candidate.
Also, five APC members – Femi Gbajabiamila (Lagos) Nkeiruka Onyejeocha (Abia), John Dyegh (Benue) Mohammed Bago (Niger), Olatunbosun Olajide (Oyo) and Segun Odebunmi (Oyo) – are currently aspiring to the speakership of the 9th House of Representatives.
Our correspondent learnt that members of the PDP NWC and governors had yet to decide the aspirants to support.
But it was learnt that the majority of the party’s leadership would prefer another candidate to Gbajabiamila.
A source privy to some of the talks within the party said, “We have taken a census of the support of the majority of the aspirants. It is easier for us to support someone we prefer from the Senate if we could just get less than 20 votes from the APC.
“Also in the House of Representatives, we need not up to 60 votes to sway the votes against anyone.
“While we have yet to look at the credentials of the aspirants, we have however checked the backgrounds of the majority of them. We may not support someone whose antecedents could bring a negative image to the country and the National Assembly. “
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