The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rescheduled its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting from Oct 24 to Nov. 28.

Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi disclosed while reading a communique issued by the PDP Governors’ Forum at the end of it enlarged meeting on Tuesday in Abuja.

Mohammed, who is the chairman of the forum said that rising from the consultative meeting of the various organs of the party, the PDP resolved that the NEC meeting originally slated for Oct.

He said the postponement was to ensure that the party goes into the forthcoming Ondo gubernatorial elections of Nov. 16 with the unity and strength demanded to unseat the All Progressive Congress (APC) government in the state.

Reiterating the need for unity in the face of efforts by detractors to divide the party, the meeting called on all members to shun divisive utterances.

He urged members to shun divisive utterances that could undermine ongoing efforts at strengthening the party to effectively play its role as the country’s main opposition, preparatory to taking over in 2027.

Those who attended the meeting include members of the: PDP-GF, the Board of Trustees, NWC, National Assembly leadership of the PDP Caucus and Forum of Former Governors of the party. (NAN)

The Cross River chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has criticised the state government over what it described as rush to conduct the Local Government Council elections.

The party said the haste was capable of forcing the state Independent Electoral Commission (CROSIEC) to take decisions that would “change the goal post for the conduct of the election” in favour of the ruling party.

In a statement, the chairman of the party in the state, Mr Venatius Ikem, PDP said instead of 90 days notice for election, the state electoral umpire gave 30 days.

“Most governors have, in order to beat the Supreme Court deadline of October for stoppage of federal monthly allocations to Local Governments that are not democratically elected, decided to organise council poll by fire by force.

“In our state, governor Bassey Otu quickly decided first to change the goal post for the election.

“Instead of 90 days notice for election, he decided that we must conduct the election within 30 days, now maybe 37 days. Why?

“The argument seems to be so that he does not miss out on the October allocation of funds to local governments in Cross River,” he stated.

Ikem further said the Otu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration would account for the council funds he had received since May 2024.

He alleged that in spite of the huge resources that had accrued to the administration, there was nothing on ground to show for it.

“The state received a total of N119 billion in 2023. Where has the money been put to use? From January 2024 to May 2024, the government received another N33.5 billion in allocation.

“Local governments received N5.7 billion in March and N5.6 billion in June, where is the money and for what purpose has it been put to use?

“Several such astronomical sums totalling between the state and local governments in average of N11 to N12 billion monthly without anything to show for it. We will noonher keep quiet”, he said.

Ikem said if the governor did not thread the path of reason moving forward, the PDP would take steps to challenge all actions of the administration in various court of laws.(NAN)

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says 55,859 out of 89,777 newly-registered voters in Ondo State collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) within five days.

Mr Sam Olumekun, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, stated this in a statement issued by the commission on Tuesday in Abuja.

Olumekun said between Oct.

“The commission is pleased to announce that at the end of the five-day period, 55,859 cards were personally collected by new registrants as well as applicants for transfer and replacement of lost or damaged cards as provided by law.

“This figure represents 62.2 per cent of the 89,777 cards available for collection.

“This is the highest percentage of PVCs collected in five days in Ondo since the commission introduced the CVR in 2015,” he said.O

Olumekun said that detailed breakdown of the collection by Local Government Areas (LGAs) had been uploaded to the commission’s website and social media platforms for public information.

He appealed to those who had yet to pick up their PVCs in person to do so from the commission’s LGA offices, saying no cards would be collected by proxy.

Olumekun said that the collection of the PVCs would resume in the 18 LGA offices in the state from Oct. 23 to Oct. 29 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily (including weekend).

He said that detailed information on the locations of INEC local government offices in the state was already available on the commission’s website. (NAN)