On Your Marks.... BEING THE TEXT OF A PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE STATE CHAIRMAN OF THE PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY, OBONG PAUL EKPO ON MARCH 5, 2020

Ini Ememobong

Gentlemen of the Press,

The ship of our party which set sail four years ago is nearing the harbor to berth. And it is customary with voyage of this nature,  a de-boarding and reboarding process, politically referred  to as Congresses must commence.

From this Saturday, March 7, 2020, we will begin the processes of electing party men and women who will take over the anchor and command of our party at the ward, Local Government and State levels for the next four years.  We can assure that in our vintage tradition, the Congresses  will be anchored on the time tested ideals of transparency, fairness, equity and inclusion.

On the token of inclusion, it is the desire of our party to get more women involved in the process of leadership in our party. In accordance with the approved amendments to our constitution, in the forthcoming nomination, we intend to:

-          Reserve 6 out of the 17 positions in the Exco for women at the ward level

-          Reserve 6 out of the 18 positions in the Exco  for women at the Local Government level

-          Reserve 13 out of the 39 positions in the Exco for women at the State level

-          Reserve 3 out of the  10 positions in the Exco for women at the Zonal level

-          And reserve 9 out of the 28 positions in the Exco for women at the National level

We implore all stakeholders to abide by the stipulated guidelines. No iota of violence will be condoned. It is our desire to maintain the new tradition of orderliness, inclusion and peace that we have entrenched in our party in Akwa Ibom.

In order to ensure that all the processes are conducted orderly and in line with  the stipulations of the party guidelines, our party has appointed Local Government and State coordinating committees who will assist in this regard. We urge all members of the party to work with these Committees to conduct rancour-free congresses beginning from this Saturday.

In the event of any crisis or conflict of interest, The Central Congresses Coordinating  Committee will step in to resolve the crisis.

Delegates to the congresses must arrive the venues on time and endeavour to take part in all the processes.

Events and emerging realities in the past few years in our nation have only proven that our party, the PDP holds the assurance for the kind of people-centric leadership that our nation needs at this time.  At all levels, our party will continue to strive towards producing men of credible character and competent standing to step into the task of providing purposeful leadership at all levels.

Let me express our sincere appreciation to all the stakeholders and members of our party who have continued to keep faith with the PDP. This faith and sacrifices have been the reason for our successes. We assure that on our part,  we will continue to hold to produce responsible leadership capable of delivering democratic dividends to our people.