In what looked like a U-turn on the adoption of President Goodluck Jonathan as the sole presidential aspirant, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday urged all members interested in contesting the presidential primary of the party to ensure that they pick the presidential nomination form before November 6, 2014.
The National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh, had earlier in the day told reporters that it was the decision of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to allow all members who are interested in contesting for the presidential ticket of the party to do so by paying for the presidential nomination form and expression of interest form of N20 million and N2 million respectively.
Already, a son of the former Prime Minister, Dr. AbdulJelili Tafawa Balewa, and Prof. Akasoba Duke Abiola had paid for the forms but were not given any on the grounds that Jonathan had been nominated as the sole presidential candidate of the party.
At the weekend, Dr. Balewa threatened to go to court.
However, Metuh during a briefing yesterday evening, said the NWC had ruled that all interested members wishing to contest for the party’s presidential ticket were free to do so provided the member showed evidence of payment of the necessary fees.
In a statement, he added: “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wishes to inform all aspirants to all positions for the 2015 general election that the deadline for the purchase and collection of all nomination forms has been extended to Thursday, November 6, 2014.
“All aspirants who paid for nomination forms, including the presidential form but yet to collect same, should come to the PDP National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja with verifiable evidence of payment for the purpose of collecting their forms.