Why PDP Is Unwilling To Zone Presidency To South

A member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party has given an insight into why the party is unwilling to zone its presidential ticket to the South, despite clamour for power shift in 2023.

Politicians and socio-cultural groups from the southern part of the country have called on major political parties to give their presidential tickets to a southerner after the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term in 2023.

The ruling All Progressive Congress, even though has not made any official statement about zoning of the presidency, leaders of the party have expressed support for power shift and so far only southerners have declared interest in the presidential race.

But the PDP has maintained that it would not zone the presidency. When former governor of Niger State, Aliyu Babangida, declared in January that the PDP had zoned its presidential ticket to the North, spokesman of the party, Debo Ologunagba, dismissed the claim.

He had said, “The attention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been drawn to comments and speculations from certain individuals claiming that our Party has zoned its Presidential ticket to a particular part of the country.

“This is completely misleading as it does not in any way represent the position of our Party.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the PDP emphatically and unequivocally states that it has not zoned it Presidential ticket to any part of the country.”

Leading members of the party and presidential aspirants such as Governor Aminu Tambuwal, former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, and ex-senate president, Bukola Saraki have all spoken against zoning.

But a member of the BoT from the north has revealed the reason why the PDP would not zone its presidential ticket to the South.

“Who is a member of the party from the south who can deliver four states to the PDP in an election?” he asked while trying to explain the dilemma of the party.

He said, “It is not that PDP does not want a southerner to be president, but who is there in the south that can deliver more than one state?

“Is it Wike? Wike is a good man and he has done well, but can he deliver South-south? How many states does he have influence apart from Rivers?

“If we have somebody like Bola Tinubu from the south, someone who can deliver his zone, then we will be ready to zone the ticket to the south. But the truth is there’s no one like that from the south.”

He said the party had constituted a committee to look into zoning, adding that the committee would have strong debates on zoning.

Asked whether the party had decided to back ex-Vp Abubakar who made a formal declaration for president in Abuja on Wednesday, he said “No. Former heads of state and elder statesmen in the north have called and advised him to shelve his presidential ambition.

“They asked him to support a younger candidate and be a father figure, but the man has refused. You know, he’s similar to Buhari in that way, that nobody can talk to him.”