The governor of Bayelsa state, Seriake Dickson, has warned the Prince Uche Secondus-led National Working Committee, NWC, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to come up with sellable candidates for the 2019 presidential election.
He also urged them to throw the contest for the party’s 2019 presidential ticket open to all aspirants.
The call followed speculations in some quarters that some governors and party leaders had reached a deal for the emergence of a particular candidate ahead of the presidential election.
The Peoples Democratic had since 2016 zoned its presidential ticket to the North, and at the moment, about five prominent personalities have directly or indirectly shown interest.
Dickson’s warning also followed that of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who had, while delivering a key-note address at the opening of the two-day retreat for the NWC and state chairmen of the PDP in Abuja, said, “Of utmost importance in the build up to the 2019 elections year is our choice of a presidential candidate. The fate and political fortunes of the party depend on the party’s presidential candidate.
“The party must, therefore, identify a candidate with the credentials, reach, charisma, competence and popularity to outmatch any candidate presented by the ruling APC and any other party for that matter.”
Governor Dickson who also spoke at the event said the Secondus-led NWC should field a presidential candidate who had high chances of winning the election.
He explained that, “Politics is conspiracy upon conspiracy in the overall interest of the nation,” adding that the party “must also ensure that only credible candidates were fielded for all elective offices.”