The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primary election is scheduled to hold on November 26, 2014 ahead of the 2015 polls.
Executive members of the party at all levels wishing to contest the primaries are expected to resign their office seven days before the said primaries for the elective posts they are vying for.
This information was contained in the draft guidelines of the party for the primary elections circulated to members of the caucus of the party and to National Executive Committee (NEC) members.
The National Executive Committee (NEC), Board of Trustees (BoT) and National Caucus of the PDP are expected to meet this week to approve the draft guidelines for the primaries.
According to the draft of the guidelines pending approval, the sale of the presidential nomination forms will be open to all Nigerians above the age of 40 at the cost of N20 million.
The electoral guidelines issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) states that the sale of presidential forms shall take place between November 4 and 11, the campaigns would commence on November 30.
By the Electoral Act 2010, Section 31 (1), “Every political party shall not later than 60 days before the date appointed for the general elections under the provisions of this Act, submit to the Commission in the prescribed forms list of the candidates the party proposes to sponsor at the elections.”
The sale of the forms, depending on the elective post, is expected to kick off in the first week of October, while all primary elections are expected to end with the presidential primary election slated for November 26.
It was further gathered that any member of the party’s executive committee in the National Working Committee (NWC), State Executive Committees (SECs) or even the local and ward levels are expected by the draft guidelines to resign from office seven days to the primary election to the elective post that the offical is contesting.
INEC guidelines stipulate that all political parties primary elections must be conducted between October 2 and end by December 11 2014, while December 18 and 25 is the last day for the submission of presidential and National Assembly forms to INEC.
