ZONING: PDP SETS UP PANEL TO PROBE ERRANT MEMBERS

The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party has set up a six-man committee to probe the abuse of the party's zoning formula by members.

The committee, a senior official told our correspondent, would recommend punishment for those who flouted the party's rule on zoning and proffer ways to stem recurrences.

The inauguration of the committee, headed by Sen. Onyeabor Obi, was performed by the Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, at the PDP Legacy House recently. Our correspondent learnt that the inauguration was done in secret and without the usual grandeur.

Our correspondent gathered that the setting up of the committee was sequel to the advice by the Chairman of the party's Board of Trustees, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, and his deputy, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, should resign after two years in office.

Both Tambuwal and Ihedioha had defied the zoning formula of the party in June to contest and emerge the leaders of the House.

But Obasanjo at the board's meeting had said that if the action of the leadership of the party was allowed to go unchallenged, it would alter the zoning policy of the party.

Apart from this, the former president also said that it would be difficult to enforce discipline in the party in future, as those who broke the party's directive and flouted its constitution would cite the actions of both officers of the House as a precedent.

A party official who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity said the committee was made up of six senior party members from the six geo-political zones. They are the party's acting National Secretary, Dr. Musa Babayo (North-East); Chief Ebenezer Babatope (South-West); Sen. Abdullahi Adamu (North-Central); Sen. Stella Omu (South-South); and the Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, who will represent the North-West.

The committee was asked to advise the party on the implications of the breach in the zoning arrangements of the party by Tambuwal and Ihedioha.

Our correspondent learnt that the report of the committee would be submitted to the NWC, which would take it to the BoT. The board's recommendations will then be sent to the National Executive Committee meeting for appropriate action.

After Tambuwal and his group defied the party, its leadership, after consultation with the Presidency, had to re-arrange the zoning of national offices among the six geo-political zones in the country.

The party had initially zoned the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the South-West.

But the majority of the Representatives, backed by members of the opposition political parties like the Action Congress of Nigeria and the Congress for Political Change, had kicked against the zoning formula and elected Tambuwal and Ihedioha.

A member of the committee, who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said they were also asked to reconcile aggrieved members of the party, especially in states where governorship elections are to be held between December 2011 and 2012.