Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
There are indications that the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) National Working Committee (NWC) may have resolved to grant a three months extension to the party’s executives in 23 states across the country. The tenure of the affected state executives is to expire on May 10.
The states include Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo and FCT, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kastina, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe states.
Also to benefit are the six national vice chairmen and members of the PDP Zonal Working Committees (ZWC) and national ex-officio members, whose tenure will expire on May 14.
Daily Sun gathered that this is as result of the inability of the opposition party to conclude congresses in the affected states due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought political, as well as socio-economic activities in the country to a halt.
The opposition party had already conducted wards and local government areas congresses in the affected state, preparatory to state congresses, where new executives were supposed to emerge, before it suspended all political activities nationwide as part of measure to halt the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
The state and zonal congresses were originally scheduled for April 4 and April 18 respectively. However, the opposition party on March 24 suspended all congresses, rallies and other activities that will entail large gathering of nationwide.
The party spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, confirmed in a telephone interview that an extension of tenure for the 26 State Working Committees (SWCs) was being considered in the absence of congresses.
He said there would a formal announcement on the issue before Sunday, May 10 when there tenure will elapse.
Meanwhile, the opposition party has insisted on a new pricing template of petroleum products that will peg the price of fuel between N60 to N70 per litre to reflect the crash in the price of crude oil and petroleum products in the international market.
The PDP in a statement described the N108 ex-depot price announced by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation( NNPC) “as fraudulent.”
It alleged that the Federal Government has continued to shroud the indices and parameters it is using in determining domestic prices of petroleum products in secrecy, stating that such parameters “cannot be in tandem with the appropriate situation in the global industry.”
The PDP accused the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government of shortchanging unsuspecting Nigerians since the beginning of the year by refusing to end its alleged interferences in the petroleum industry and allow market forces to determine the pump price of fuel to reflect current global realities.
“Our party insists that the Federal Government has no reason to continue to fleece Nigerians particularly in the face of worsening economic crisis occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic which it had also failed to effectively handle. Indeed, Nigerians must not continued to be fleeced with high fuel prices while stolen subsidy and accruable overcharges are looted by a few individuals operating as a cabal in the APC-led administration,” it stated.
It also charged the National Assembly to be ready to sanction the APC-led Federal Government should the $311 million repatriated from the United of America recently be mismanaged.
It accused the APC of attempting to cover its alleged complicity in a plot to fritter away the money. The opposition party challenged the APC to respond to allegations by the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, on alleged mismanagement of the Social Investment Programme (SIP).