Kwankwaso: It's too early to predict PDP's candidate - Rep Arabo

As Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso joins the league of presidential contestants under the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a member of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Arabo (PDP, Kaduna) has said it is too early to predict who flies the party's flag in the 2019 presidential election.

Arabo, who stated this in an interview with Daily Trust in Abuja on Wednesday, said it would be too hasty to make a choice from the list of aspirants since all of them are eminently qualified for the office of president.

"At the presidential level, all the PDP aspirants are qualified to become president of Nigeria.

"As we speak, it is too early for me to make a choice because we still have some weeks before the presidential primary, and you know in politics, things can change within five minutes," he said.

He however urged the aspirants to respect the party's decision on whoever eventually emerges as the party's candidate ahead of the 2019 presidential election.

The lawmaker also noted that the timeline for the forthcoming party primary elections depends on the signing of the Electoral Amendment Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Arabo expressed optimism that the PDP would form the government in 2019, both in his home state of Kaduna and at the centre.

On the recent defections at the National Assembly, the PDP lawmaker said whether they were in order or not, depends on the decisions of the courts in Nigeria.

He described the idea that the majority party in the National Assembly should produce the presiding officers as "mere convention."

He said, "If you look at the Constitution, it is only two-thirds of members in any of the chambers of the National Assembly that can impeach a presiding officer unless he/she voluntary resigns."

On the legality of defections outside the parliament, he added, "There are decided cases. There have been defections in the floor and outside.

"What the Constitution envisages is change of party. Whether on the floor or outside, what is important is a communication from the defector that he or she has defected.

"There are two scenarios. A presiding officer on the House can rule that the defector's seat be declared vacant. If he does not, it now becomes a matter for the court.

"Whether there is faction or not in the party of the defecting member, is for the courts to decide," the lawmaker argued.