PDP CONVENTION 'LL BE FREE, FAIR SAYS BARAJE, AG. CHAIRMAN

Speaking when he received Governor Abdulfatai Ahmed of Kwara State, Baraje admitted challenges facing the party since the present National Working Committee, NWC, came on board March 8, 2008.

He said the forthcoming congresses and national convention will be 'most transparent, articulate, acceptable, free and fair' like the process which produced President Goodluck Jonathan as the presidential candidate of the party.

The Acting National Chairman who noted that the party was able to weather the storms, however, attributed the smooth change of party's national leadership to what he described as divine intervention and astuteness of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Baraje said: 'God directed Preident Goodluck Jonathan and used him to keep the party together, that one of us in NWC should take over and lead this party.

'That decision was taken by the will of Allah and we accept it in its entirety and that was why the NWC is one united entity and will continue to work as one.

'NWC has gone through a lot of storm, went through the calamity of witnessing the death of a serving president, we went through the transition to Acting President and we weathered the storm. We had challenges having changes of leadership twice and we weathered the storm'.

It will be recalled that the PDP National Executive Committee, NEC had last Thursday ratified Alhaji Baraje, who was the National Secretary as the Acting National Chairman and the former Deputy National Secretary, Dr. Musa Babayo as Acting National Secretary to fill the vacuum created by the appointment of the former Acting National Chairman, Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, as Minister of Defence.

Speaking earlier, the Kwara State governor, Abdulfatai Ahmed, who was the first governor to visit the re-constituted NWC, explained that he was at the party national secretariat with his executive members, state PDP executive and members of the National Assembly from the state to express their support for the party's national leadership as well as felicitate with them having gone through tough time in the process of nation building.