Bello, Ortom to Resign as PDP Officials

With the name of the Acting National Chair-man of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) among the ministerial nominees, Dr. Mohammed Harilu Bello is set to resign as the party number one member, though his associates are urging him not to resign pending his final confirmation as a minister.

Harilu  was among the  ministerial nominees mentioned at the floor of the Senate, Tuesday by Article 15 of the PDP constitution, no member of the party is allowed to hold dual offices.

“ Subject to the provisions of this constitution, any member holding any office in the party at any level shall be deemed to have resigned that office, if he or she assumes any full time employment or appointment in public service of the federation, state or local government”, Article 15 (J) of the PDP constitution stated.

Bello is a ministerial nominee from Kebbi state. Also expected to resign is the National Auditor of the party, Dr. Samuel Ortom from Benue state.

THISDAY gathered that the handover notes of the Acting National Chairman of PDP was  ready since last week when he presided over the National Working Committee (NWC) that briefly took place with few members.

However, some of his associates in the NWC are asking the Acting National Chairman not to tender his resignation letter pending the final clearance by the Senate.

According to one of the NWC members, “he would be suffering double jeopardy, if the Senate fails to clear him and on the other hand, he has resigned his office as the Acting National Chairman.”

“If I were to be in his shoe, the appropriate time for him to resign, is when he is finally confirmed minister by the Senate and the Federal Executive Council set to be inaugurated. This is our position”, the NWC member said.

But one thing is clear in today’s agenda of the NWC of the party. It is the expected hand over notes of the Acting National Chairman.

By the PDP constitution, the Acting National Chairman, Dr. Bello is expected to submit his hand over notes to the next in ranking from his zone, who is Dr. Danladi Abdullahi Sankara who is the Vice Chairman (North central), but he is now a senator having won his senatorial election to represent Jigawa state.

But in the absence of this, he is expected to hand over the National Secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje who is next in the line of ranking in the PDP hierarchy. According to a source in the Wadata Plaza Secretariat of the party, arrangements had been concluded to hand over the control of the party to the National Secretary of the party, Abubakar Baraje.

However, it was gathered that the Baraje may not last more than a month as the Acting National Chairman of the party, as plans are under way to convey a Board of Trustee (BoT) and National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party to take far reaching decisions on issues affecting PDP.

At its last NWC meeting on June 15 2011, Bello and other members of the PDP NWC agreed on the need to hold the meetings of the BOT and the NEC immediately after the consultations for the constitution of the President’s cabinet. The meeting said that it was necessary to formally notify the NEC and the BOT of certain occurrences in the party.

It is also not clear whether the NEC of the party will order the immediate dissolution of the NWC and replace it with a Caretaker Committee. The tenure of the present executive committee of the party is expected to expire in March 2012.