Media mogul, Raymond Dokpesi, has said that he is still consulting in his bid to run for the national chairmanship position of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the December 9 national convention. The owner of DAAR Communication made this known yesterday in a media chat with journalists in Abuja
He maintained that the party has zoned the chairmanship position to the entire South and the race is open to everyone from the region. “The concept and idea of zoning is to ensure that there is fairness and equity in the sharing of party offices. In this very particular case, the PDP has been very clear and stated that the chairmanship position of the party should be zoned to the entire southern part of Nigeria while the presidency of Nigeria should be zoned to the north. “The caretaker committee have affirmed and reaffirmed that the chairmanship is zoned to the three geo-political zones of the south and presidency is zoned to the three geo-political zones of the north. Micro-zoning can take place for the other local positions but for these two important positions there should be no micro zoning. And I am glad that Senator Makrfi reaffirmed that same position yesterday in the northern elders meeting. “I have heard that it was postulated that Chief Uche Secondus was acting chairman of the party. The truth of the matter is that Chief Secondus was the deputy national chairman of the party just as Chief Olabode George from the South west was deputy national chairman. There is no provision or whatsoever for acting chairman. “We must open our radars and look for the most competent, most capable and the best general who will lead us into battle with APC. But the party must provide a level playing ground for all the aspirants that are going to come. And that is what I am saying I have the capacity, the ability, the will to really provide that level playing ground and transparent ground for the PDP candidacy to have,” Dokpesi said. Dokpesi also said that he is in support of the South East producing the Vice-Presidential candidate in the 2019 election “My position is that the highest position coming to the South should of necessity go to the South East. I have no apology about it because the South West has produced the president for eight years and the South South has produced the president as well,” he said. Dokpesi admitted that he formed and funded the Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance (APDA) as a plan B for the PDP during the recent leadership tussle that engulfed the party. However, he said APDA was formed with the knowledge of the major stakeholders of the PDP and the agreement was for the Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee to take over APDA if the Supreme Court judgement was in favour of Senator Ali-Modu Sheriff. His lawyer, Barrister Chieme Chukwu, who was part of the media chat, said Dokpesi has the right to contest not minding the case against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. “He is presumed innocent until otherwise. He has his right and duties. Under that provision of presumption of innocence, nobody is supposed to conclude because the case is still in court. No decision has been taken against him. He has his rights. He has the right to contest in the election if he wants to. He has the right to vote if he wants to. There is nothing under the law in our country that proscribes him or prevents him from exercising his rights,” she said.
Security Forces in the state through a coordinated intelligence report has bursted the camp of the unknown gunmen at Akokwa, Arondizuogu after a long gun duel which resulted to the death of some of the criminals and others arrested. These criminal elements have been known to be behind several attacks in the state such as the killing of police men in Mbaise, Aba Branch in Ehime Mbano, burning down of police stations, attack and attempted kidnapping of former Governor Ikedi Ohakim, abduction of Miss. P.P. Johnson, a female soldier in Okigwe and recently the attack in Akokwa that left many dead. It is obvious that these daredevil gunmen have been perpetuating their evil plans unabated until yesterday when their camp was bursted by security agencies. This is another assurance that our security operatives are leaving no stone unturned in the fight against banditry and other related activities. While it has become obvious that the activities of these non state actors are politically motivate