As the National Assembly race in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) heats up, aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are divided over the option of a consensus candidate.
The division became clear during a meeting between the aspirants and the 270 delegates drawn from the six area councils of the FCT.
Addressing journalists on the sidelines of the meeting, leading House of Representatives contender, Hon. Danladi Zhin, maintained that the PDP Congresses billed for Saturday, December 6, 2014 would hold as scheduled.
Zhin said he was looking forward to the election on Saturday as consensus was completely out of the party’s constitution.
“Consensus is a matter of understanding, who is consenting to who, who is stepping down for who? The word stepping down is not found in the democratic dictionary. It has to be something done willingly from the heart of someone, looking at his strength and the strength of his fellow contestants,” he said.
Also speaking, one of the Senatorial aspirants in FCT, Mrs. Ireti Kingibe, decried the lack of inclusiveness in the handling of party issues leading to the primaries.
Ireti maintained that democracy was for the people to have a choice; it is about fairness and for everyone to have a stake.
According to her, democracy cannot survive if it is not allowed to thrive, she stressed that the people should be allowed to speak rather than resort to consensus candidate.
Earlier, the State Chairman of PDP in Abuja, Alhaji Waiwai Suleiman, said the party encourages consensus candidate and advised all aspirants to work towards a consensus candidate to maintain the party’s unity in the territory.
