From John Adams, Minna
After months of postponements occasioned by intrigue, manipulations and power play, the botched Niger state congress of the main opposition People Democratic Party (PDP) has been conducted on Saturday with the re-election of Barrister Tanko Beji as its Chairman for another four years in office.
The over 2,000 delegates from the 25 local government areas of the state defied the early morning heavy downpour on Saturday when they converged at the party secretariat for the election which began exactly 10:00am with accreditation of delegates under a heavy security.
The former governor of the state and member Board of Trustee (BoT) of the party, Dr. Babangida Aliyu and his loyalists however boycotted the congress.
Also absent at the congress was one of the Chairmanship candidates, Alhaji Mukhtar Ahmed but however got two votes at the end of the congress.
At the end of the voting process which lasted till 7:00am on Sunday, the chairman of the Congress committee and Benue state Deputy Governor Engr. Benson Abounu declared Tanko Beji as the winner of the Chairmanship contest having scored a total of 2,092 votes to defeat his rival Alhaji Mukhtar with two votes while eight votes were voided.
A total of 2,305 delegates from the 25 local government areas of the state were accredited out of which 2,102 actually voted in the one-sided state congress.
Engineer Benson Abounu thank God for a successful congress and all the PDP stakeholders as well as the delegates for their cooperation, patient, zeal and dedication despites the heavy downpours throughout the congress.
It could be recalled that the party has been engulfed with internal crisis shortly after it wards and local government congress which led to several postponement of the state congress despite numerous peace meeting between ex-governor Babangida Aliyu led faction and the Chairman of the party, Tanko Beji who was seeking second term in office.
However, after party’s stakeholders meeting held on Thursday, July 29 at the party secretariat in Minna, it was agreed that the botched Congress for the election
The ” Critical Stakeholders” and caucus meeting was presided over by the Overseeing Committee Chairman Mr Theophilus Dakas Shan, and attended by the former Minister of Information and Culture, Professor Jerry Gana, the party unanimously agreed that the botched party congress will now go ahead on August 7th, 2021.
Although only one out of the two Chairmanship Candidates, Alhjai Tanko Beji who is seeking second term in office was present at meeting, the Overseeing Committee Chairman for the state, Mr Theophilus Dakas Shan who is also the party North Central Vice Chairman said the committee reached out to everybody, only three members of the caucus sent in their apologies”.
Other prominent figures that were present at the meeting include the Governorship candidate of the party in the 2015 and 2019 Governorship elections, Alhaji Umar Mohammed Nasko and Alhaji Ndako Kpaki a former Secretary to the state government.