It appears that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) may throw open its presidential ticket to all the six geopolitical zones since it might resolve to keep its national chairmanship in the South.
This is just as its national convention committee on zoning, has scheduled the meeting for Wednesday, September 22, in Enugu State.
The committee headed by Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu State Governor, is expected to take critical decisions on the zoning of offices for the October 30 and 31 National Convention of the opposition party.
The meeting was announced Monday by the chairman of the national convention committee of the party, Ahmadu Fintiri, who is the Adamawa State Governor, who called on the Ugwuanyi committee to hasten up the zoning of the offices.
There has been clamour from the Southern Governors and political leaders that the presidential ticket should be specifically zone to Southern Nigeria after the expiration of the second tenure of incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
Read also: Decision on zoning ‘ll be taken at appropriate time – PDP
However, sources say the party might adopt the position of the Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, whose committee reviewed the outcome of the 2019 presidential election.
Recall that the Mohammed committee had recommended that based on equity and fairness as well as calibre of Nigerians believed to be capable of being the president, the ticket should be thrown open.
The committee had said that every Nigerian had the legitimate right to contest for the presidency, while there are qualified Nigerians across the country who can salvage the nation from its current woes.
According to the committee report, “In line with certain unwritten conventions of the nation’s history, many people think that, for fairness and equity, the North-East and South-East geo-political zones that have had the shortest stints at the Presidency, should be given special consideration, in choosing the presidential flag bearer of the party, for the 2023 elections.
“While we admit that this is a strong argument, we should not lose sight of the fact that Nigeria is endowed with many capable and very experienced leaders in every part of the country.
“Moreover, the exigencies of the moment demand that nothing should be compromised in choosing the leader, with the attributes to disentangle the country from the present quagmire.
“Therefore, we think that every Nigerian, from every part of the country, should be allowed to choose the best candidate, through a credible primary election; as a way of institutionalising a merit-based leadership recruitment process, for the country.”
