ACCREDITATION of delegates who will vote at the presidential primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has commenced at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, the venue of the exercise.
The accreditation is being done according to geo-political zones. Delegates from the same geopolitical zone are grouped together for the exercise.
It is expected that 811 delegates will be accredited.
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Eight hundred and eleven adhoc delegates will vote at the PDP convention.
The 811 delegates include 774 elected to represent their respective local government areas (LGAs) and 37 people living with disability, who are representing the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Due to provisions of the new Electoral Act 2022, political office holders such as the President, Vice President, members of the National Assembly, governors and their deputies, members of the state houses of assembly, chairmen of councils and councillors, who all qualify as statutory delegates in political parties, are not voting in the presidential primary.
As a result, only the elected adhoc delegates elected from the 774 LGAs, and one person with a disability from each state and the FCT, will vote to elect the presidential candidate.
States with more LGAs have a higher number of delegates at the convention.
Kano, with 44 LGAs, has the largest number of delegates, followed by Katsina, 34, Akwa Ibom, 31, Oyo 33, Osun, 30, as the top five states in number of LGAs/delegates.
A breakdown of states and number of LGAs is as follows:
Abia 17, Adamawa 21, Akwa Ibom 31, Anambra 21, Bauchi 21, Bayelsa 8, Benue 22, Borno 27, Cross River 18, Delta 25, Ebonyi 13, Enugu 17, Edo 18, Ekiti 16, Gombe 11, Imo 27, Jigawa 27, Kaduna 23, Kano 44, Katsina 34, Kebbi 21, Kogi 21, Kwara 16, Lagos 20, Nasarawa 13, Niger 25, Ogun 20, Ondo 18, Osun 30, Oyo 33, Plateau 17, Rivers 23, Sokoto 23, Taraba 16, Yobe 17, Zamfara 14, FCT 6. The combined total of 774 LGAs in the country translates to 774 delegates.
Each state and the FCT has an additional delegate, representing persons with disability – 37 extra delegates which when added to the 774 from the LGAs makes a combined total of 811 delegates.
The aspirant that will pick the PDP presidential ticket is the one that will get the highest number of votes from the 811 delegates.
Voting is expected to commence late in the evening, after the accreditation.
Although the programme of events for the convention has not been made available, it is expected that PDP national chairman Iyorchia Ayu, will deliver an address before the commencement of voting.
The aspirants are also expected to address the convention and make final appeals to delegates before votes are cast.
It is expected that the result of the primary election will not be ready before morning on Sunday, May 29.