The South-South consensus candidate list has been released.
Festus Keyamo, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, was not included in the list of top government officials and politicians from the zone who signed it.
Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State, Secretary of the CECPC, Senator John Akpanudoudehe, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Ameachi, and Minister of the Niger-Delta, Godswill Akpabio, all signed the list of consensus candidates.
Adams Oshiomhole, the party's former Chairman; Heineken Lokpobiri, a former Minister of State for Agriculture; and Lucky Imasuen, a former Edo State Deputy Governor, are among those who signed the list.
Mrs Stella Okotete, the Caretaker Extraordinary Committee's representative for women; Mr David Lyon, the CECPC's representative for the South-South; Sen. Ita Enaga, Sen. Magnus Abe, Mr Victor Giadom, and Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege were also present at the meeting where the decision was made.
However, as shown in the list, at least one office was assigned to each of the six states in the region.
Victor Giadom, the former deputy National Secretary of the party, who is returning to the party as National Vice Chairman (South-South) and a member of the NWC, is at the top of the list of beneficiaries.
Giadom, a former commissioner of works in Rivers State, rose to prominence after announcing himself as the party's acting national chairman, an action that led to the sacking of Adams Oshiomhole, a former governor of Edo State, as the party's national chairman almost two years ago.
Delta State Commissioner for Health, Dr Betta Edu (National Women Leader), and Mr Felix Morka are among the other candidates who have been adopted (National Publicity Secretary).
According to NAN, the three party members were adopted at the stakeholders' last meeting in Abuja, according to a statement released by the stakeholders.
Rivers/Bayelsa states are zoned for the National Vice Chairman South-South, Akwa Ibom/Cross River states for the National Women Leader, and Edo/Delta states for the National Publicity Secretary.
Governor Ayade was said to have chosen Edu (Cross River) as the National Women's Leader, while Ameachi was said to have chosen Giadom (Rivers State) as the National Vice Chairman.
Morka (Delta State) was also said to have been chosen by Omo-Agege for the position of National Publicity Secretary.
As of press time, the position of others who obtained expressions of interest and nomination forms to run for the positions was unclear.