2023: South West agenda promoters consider APC as PDP considers ’no zone’ option

Indications emerged few days ago that the Peoples Democratic Party will likely adopt the report of its commit­tee set up to review why the party lost in the 2019 presidential election and recommend solutions on how the party would return to power in 2023.

The 14-member committee, head­ed by Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, had recommended that the presidential ticket of the party be thrown open to all regions instead of resorting to a zoning arrangement, a position which has greatly angered Southern stakeholders in the party.

A chieftain of the party, who is a member of the Board of Trustees, said the party would adopt the committee’s report as there is “a great likelihood that majority of PDP stakeholders want the ticket to be zoned to the North­ern part of the country”. ­

According to him, in the spirit of justice, equity and fair play, it would be unfair to consider the South again for the ticket having spent over 13 years out of PDP’s 16-year reign in power.

The BoT member, who sought anonymity, said: “The committee has done its job and it is left for the stakeholders to look at the recommendations they have made dispassionately and come up with a position, but I can tell you with certainty that the report will be adopted.

“They are arguing that rotational presidency is the way to go based on the ar­rangement of the party’s constitution.

“Fair enough, yes, but cur­rent circumstances will not make that possible because that arrangement was altered in 2010 during the Yar’Adua presidency.

“Now, the PDP, before we were pushed out in 2015, has spent 16 years in power.

“Of the 16 years, the South used 13 years and some days.

“Former President Uma­ru Musa Yar’Adua, who took the Northern slot in 2007, only spent two years and 25 days before his demise.

“His deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, from the Southern part of the country, completed their tenure and had another four years (which Yar’Adua may have gotten if he had contested for a second term).

“With that, the South used 13 years and some days out of the PDP’s 16 years’ reign.

“So, with this explanation, on what grounds will the PDP zone it to the South again?

“Logic demands that it goes to the North.

“Which re­gion produced the last presi­dent and presidential candi­date under the PDP before the party lost power?

“We all know it was the South.

“That means it should go back to the North if it is on the strength of fairness that some Southern stakeholders are canvassing.”

Also speaking, a member of the party’s National Work­ing Committee, who asked not to be named, said for strategic reasons, the PDP may need to field a Northern presidential candidate if it is serious about returning to power in 2023.

He, however, said rather than excluding any region, the party may adopt the com­mittee’s report by throwing open the ticket to all aspirants from all parts of the country so that the best among them will emerge as the flag bearer of the party.

He said: “I believe that for strategy reasons, the PDP cannot af­ford to push the presidency to the South if, indeed, we are serious about returning to power.

“If the ruling party zones to the South and PDP does the same, the reality is that the APC (All Progressives Congress) will emerge victorious because they already have the edge as the ruling party.

“If the PDP fields a North­ern presidential candidate and the APC fields a south­erner, the PDP will have the advantage because the North has the voting strength and all other indices that count during elections.

“The belief is even that if the PDP fields a Northern presidential candidate, the APC members from the North will support him.

“We all know what hap­pened in 2015 when the APC fielded President Muham­madu Buhari and some PDP members from the North sup­ported and worked for him in the background.

“The PDP is looking for strategic reasons to win the 2023 presidential election and, by so doing, we can’t afford to zone to the South.

“But for fairness, we won’t exclude any region, and that is why the committee has de­cided to leave it open.

“If a popular Southerner wins the primary, then good luck to him, we will all sup­port him.

“The issue is that the Southern PDP members know that they stand no chance in the open competi­tion and that is why they are insisting on zoning so that no Northerner will compete for the ticket with them.

“All they want is to have it on a platter of gold.

“I doubt if that will happen.”

Rivers State Governor, Nye­som Wike, has said if zoning the PDP presidential ticket to the North will cause the party to win the 2023 gen­eral election, he would sup­port the decision.

The governor, who shared this view during an inter­view with BBC Pidgin at the Government House, Port Harcourt, explained that the reason why the PDP had not taken a final decision on whether its presidential can­didate for the 2023 general election should be from the North or South of the country is because stakeholders are still strategising on the best options that would guarantee the party’s victory in the polls.

He stated that the PDP was keen to take over power in 2023 and was not in a hurry to give the ruling APC a glimpse of its strategy to wrest pow­er from it in the next general election.

“I am from the Southern part of Nigeria. I will be hap­py if power returns to the South, but if PDP will win the 2023 presidential election by zoning the presidential ticket to the North, I will not be op­posed to it,” Wike said.

One of those pushing for a Southern president said it was obvious from the above that the only place where the desire of fielding a southern candidate can possibly see the light of the day is APC.

The party leadership was reported to have agreed to a power shift from the North to South come 2023.

The recent mass movement of prominent PDP chieftains to the ruling party is obviously to further boost the southern presidency agenda.

For other Southern presidency hopefuls, the destination is APC because PDP after eight years outside Aso Rock will do all it can to return to power base.

One of those pushing for a southern president said: “In trying to achieve that, tribal sentiments and political blackmail will not work.”