New Telegraph

2023: Southern PDP presidential aspirants jostle for VP slot

…as odds favour North

With less than 15 days to the presidential primaries of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), there are indications that northern aspirants in the race are in the driver’s seat for the presidential ticket convention billed for the Eagles Square in Abuja, New Telegraph has learnt.

It was also learnt that in a move that appears pre-emptive of a northern standard-bearer from the primary, some southern governors in the ranks of the opposition party have scaled up their pursuit for the presidential running mate of the party. This frantic move by the PDP governors is in contrast with the inter-party deliberation and stance of the 17 southern governors in Lagos and Enugu that power must shift to the south after President Muhammadu Buhari’s statutory constitutional term of eight years in 2023.

At separate meetings held on July 5 — in Lagos — and September 16 — in Enugu, in 2021, the southern governors have repeatedly insisted that power must shift to their region and that the next president should be zoned to their region. On Wednesday, the PDP’s National Executive Committee (NEC), threw open the contest for its presidential ticket to all aspirants in the race.

The announcement finally put to rest speculations regarding the zoning of the opposition party’s presidential ticket. In a communiqué released after the meeting, which lasted about four hours, the party said the contest was thrown open in line with a recommendation of the PDP National Zoning Committee, just as it urged presidential aspirants to work towards picking one of them as a consensus candidate. The communiqué reads: “After very extensive deliberation, NEC aligned with the recommendation of the PDP National Zoning Committee that the Presidential Election should now be left open. The party should also work towards a consensus candidate where possible.

NEC noted the recommendation of the Zoning Committee that it is in the interest of justice and fair play.” The northern aspirants in the race to compete for the 3,700 delegates’ votes are former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; ex-President of the Senate, Abubakar Bukola Saraki; Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and current Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal; his Bauchi State counterpart, Senator Bala Mohammed and businessman, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen. In the race for the PDP ticket from the south are former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim; Governors Nyesom Wike, Emmanuel Udom, of Rivers and Akwa Ibom states respectively; former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi; his Ekiti State counterpart, Ayodele Fayose; Chief Sam Ohunabunwa; Dele Momodu; Olivia Tarela, who is the only female among them; Charles Okwudili, Chikwendu Kalu and Cosmos Ndukwe.

A power rotation arrangement, though unwritten, has been playing out between the North and the South since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999 and by 2023, when Buhari, a northerner, rounds up his tenure in office, it is expected that a southerner will succeed him. Speaking with New Telegraph on the condition of anonymity, a former South-West PDP Organising Secretary said the party is unanimous at first winning the polls in 2023 before any other contemplation, adding that retrieving power from the APC is the first and last mandate on the party’s schedule ahead of the 2023 race.

He said: “The heat is on our party and we must present a candidate that can win an election for us in 2023. Yes, we play by equity and justice, but will it also be just to shut out other people from exercising their rights because of zoning? I think the best candidate should emerge even if he is from the north and I know that all of us will rally around him because we cannot afford to stay as an opposition party again.” Urging for a stronger and united PDP ahead of the 2023 elections, a former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Olabode George, said the concept of zoning still exists in the opposition party but the nature of the ongoing contest demands that all interested aspirants should be accommodated regardless of where they come from.

“We are one family and we cannot afford to lose our ties. A divided house is a defeated house. Of course, the southern people are angry but we must see ourselves as one. We can’t tell those who collected forms to jettison them and that is why they asked them to go to the field. “But there are other issues that the party must immediately look into. Party positions have been zoned on the basis of north and south, and they have also micro-zoned other various positions. “As we speak, nobody knows who will win. But if preadventure it falls to the north, the party must immediately revert all parties’ positions that are in the north to the south, and vice versa.

This will re-establish the family ties in the spirit of equity and justice,” he said. Meanwhile, New Telegraph, has learnt that six of the opposition party’s governors in the south may have apparently settled for a northern presidential candidate for the PDP in the face of the current reality of voting pattern in the country and the resolution of the party to edge out the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the saddle of leadership. While in some quarters within the opposition party, it is widely believed that Atiku is the one man that has the clout and deep pocket to match the ruling party and any chosen candidate, some tendencies, however, feel otherwise, opioning that a much younger candidate will fit the bill for the PDP. Atiku, who clocks 77 in 2023, had said before the party’s National Executive Committee in Abuja on the agitation for power shift that: “Where the president comes from has never been the problem of Nigeria, and I can cite examples; neither will it be the solution. There is no such thing as a president from Southern Nigeria or a president from Northern Nigeria. There is only one president from Nigeria, for Nigeria, by Nigerians.”

Read Previous

Remittance: Nigeria tops sub-Sahara Africa with $19.2bn

Read Next

APC TO ASPIRANTS: Resign or forfeit nomination fees

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *