From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Inter-Party Presidential Consensus Forum (IPCF) has called on People’s Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders to support the emergence of Akwa Ibom governor, Udom Emmanuel, as the party’s consensus candidate in the 2023 polls.
The National Coordinator of IPCF Abubakar Danladi, in a statement, on Thursday, said consultations by the forum, across the country indicated a widespread preference for Governor Emmanuel.
The PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) at its meeting last week had amongst others resolved to explore consensus to arrive at its 2023 presidential candidate.
However, Danladi noted that IPCF will send a high-powered delegation to the PDP leadership with a detailed report on the acceptability and electoral worth of each of the party’s presidential aspirants among Nigerians, so as to guide the party ahead of the presidential nomination exercise.
“We have conducted a series of surveys and reviews among Nigerians with Permanent Voters Card (PVCs) and the result shows that most Nigerians support a younger leader as well as power-shift to the Southern parts of the country citing national peace, equity, justice and rapid development as major reasons.
“Our surveys showed that more Nigerians preferred the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Emmanuel Udom, because of his personal composure, proven capacity to ensure national unity and stimulate human capital and infrastructural development in critical sectors.
“The survey also reflected on Governor Emmanuel’s ability to establish and successfully manage highly specialized ventures including the Ibom Air, Ibom Deep Sea Port, Ibom Industrial Park/Jetty as well as power, refinery projects, gas processing plants and top-class health facilities which show that with his type of leadership our nation can indeed achieve success in such critical area.”
Meanwhile, there are indications that some stakeholders in the PDP are already pushing for the adoption of the Akwa Ibom governor as the opposition party’s consensus presidential candidate.
It was gathered that some of the PDP governors, who are not aspiring for the presidential ticket are making case for Emmanuel to be chosen as the consensus presidential candidate, so as to douse tension arising from the contest for the PDP ticket.
