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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
There have been uneasy calm in the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) since the party decided to throw open its presidential primary for the 2023 polls. The discourse on whether or not the opposition party should zone its 2023 presidential ticket or throw it open had heightened tension in the party in the last few months.
However, the PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) had at its meeting, last Wednesday, jettisoned zoning in the choice of its presidential standard bearer in next year’s elections, contrary to the position of its constitution.
Article 7 (3)(C) of the PDP constitution stipulates that the party shall adhere “to the policy of the rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices in pursuance of the principle of equity, justice and fairness.”
Therefore, the expectations of party members from the South was that since the PDP presidential candidate in the 2019 general elections was from the North, the 2023 standard bearer will automatically be from the South.
Already, the opposition party in line with its principle of zoning and rotation had at its convention in October last year, zoned all party offices, hitherto occupied by the South to the North, and vice versa, with former Senate President, Iyorchia Ayu, emerging the national chairman.
Nevertheless, the opposition party’s NEC, at its last meeting, resolved to adopt the report of the PDP zoning committee headed by Samuel Ortom.
A communique read by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, noted: “after a 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 consensus candidate where possible.
“NEC noted the recommendation of the zoning Committee that in the interest of justice and fair play, the party should take decision on zoning timeously so as to prevent complications to the process.”
The Ortom Committee, it was gathered, recommended that “zoning, as in our party constitution, is affirmed; inspite of (1) above, ticket is thrown Open, this time around due to exigency of time. Our party is encouraged to always make the issue of zoning very clear at least 6 months before sales of forms. Our party should commend the efforts of some of our contestants on the issue of consensus candidacy; the efforts should be seen to a peaceful and logical conclusion.”
However, the resolution, which was received with mixed feelings across the country, has been a source of concern to leaders and supporters of the party, as to the implications for the opposition party in the next general elections.
Nevertheless, while the leaders of the party in the North are jubilant, there is anger among a cross section of leaders and party supporters in the South, especially in the South East, who feel cheated by the PDP decision. The zone has massively supported the opposition party since the inception of the present democratic dispensation. As such, most pundits expected that the party would support the zone to produce the next president.
Former minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, told Daily Sun that “ They (NEC) have taken a decision; as far as I am concerned, it is binding on all of us.”
Nevertheless, former PDP National Vice chairman, South East, Nze Fidelis Ozichukwu, said in as much as party leaders have accepted the PDP position on zoning, it will have a ripple effect.
Ozichukwu told Daily Sun that the South tried its best in pushing for the ticket to be zoned to it, noting that the leadership of the party probably knows something that the Southern leaders do not know.
According to him, “it will have ripple effects.The party has decided. But we tried our best. Maybe the party knows something that we do not know. There is no problem.”
Daily Sun gathered that the anger was exacerbated by the manner the PDP went about jettisoning zoning and the comments made by some northern leaders of the party on the contentious issue.
Pundits say the delay by the party in taking a decision on zoning, until the eleventh hour, where aspirants from across the country had nominated the nomination presidential forms, was deliberate.
Few months after the 2015 general elections, the PDP had announced the zoning of its 2019 presidential ticket to the North, which was well ahead of the polls. Pundits say the failure of the party to zone in the present circumstances, left much to be desired.
Daily Sun gathered that the calculation in the party that only a northern candidate can win the 2023 presidential poll has created confusion as there was no clear direction on the issue. The position was however faulted by party stakeholders in the South.
Nevertheless, inside sources say the decision is already generating ripples in the party, amidst fears that aggrieved leaders may want to get even with the opposition party, one way or the other.
Also, the South, especially the South East, is equally spoiling for a showdown with the PDP. Interest groups in the zone have threatened that there will be consequences for the opposition party if it denied the South East its presidential ticket in 2023.
The PDP has every course to worry about the sentiments in the South East. Unlike in the past when the zone was a fortress of the opposition party, the APC has made considerable inroad in the past few years.
For instance, in the recent past, the PDP controlled three out of the five governorship seats in the South East and majority of state and National Assembly seats. Regardless, the influence of the opposition party has dwindled considerably in the zone, as the party controls only Abia and Enugu states presently. Analysts say this is an indication that the PDP cannot afford to take the zone for granted.
The apex Igbo organisation, Ohanaze Ndigbo, said it is treacherous for the opposition party to seek throw its presidential ticket open. The national publicity secretary of Ohanaze, Alex Ogbonnia said the PDP had the option of either ceding the ticket to the South East or choosing a northerner and fail woefully and be buried with an epitaph “there once existed a treacherous political party which changed its goal post at the middle of the game”.
Similarly, the Chairman, Elders Council of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu said: “it is embarrassing that the party the Igbo have supported for a very long time is the same party that will deny us of our dream; we have supported PDP all through during the time of Obasanjo till date, now that it’s time for them to reciprocate, they abandoned us, Ohanaeze will meet soon.”
Also, the Southern and Middle Belt leaders, including leader of PANDEF, Chief Edwin Clark, the Afenire leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and the leader of the Middle Belt Forum, Bitrus Pogu, have thrown their weight behind the agitation for the next president to emerge from the South East.
Analysts said the PDP should be guided by events in the recent past, especially as it concerns adherence to the principle of zoning. The opposition party had breached its policy of rotation in 2015 and paid dearly for it.
Prior to the 2015 polls, the North had insisted that the PDP presidential ticket should be zoned to it. President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who succeeded Olusegun Obasanjo as president had died in office, three years into his tenure. Following Yar’Adua’s death, President Goodluck Jonathan, who succeeded him had clinched the PDP 2011 presidential ticket, amidst protest by the North.
When it became clear that the opposition party was not going to cede the 2015 presidential election to the North, the region deserted the PDP, with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Senate President Bukola Saraki, Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal among others teaming up with the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and part to form the APC. The result was the humiliating defeat of the PDP in the 2015 polls.
Pundits say the opposition party must thread carefully and find ways to assuage aggrieved leaders and supporters to avoid a repeat of the 2015 scenario.
Ayu, apparently in anticipation of the backlash that will trail the dumping of zoning, had urged party members to keep their eyes on winning the 2023 polls.
The national chairman, while inaugurating the zoning committee few weeks back, said “there should be no rancour whatsoever but to remain focused on the bigger picture. Because that is what we want. I believe by the time we have the big prize in our hands, we will share it, we will rotate it the way we want. If we had not been interrupted on this journey, about six years ago, we had started the same process.
“At the beginning, we pushed the presidency to the South. I was one of those who took that decision. And there are many others here in this hall. After general Obasanjo, we voluntarily sent it to Katsina; fate played a fast one on us after late Umaru Yar’dua sent it to Bayelsa.
“So, PDP has a history of rotating our offices. Anybody who doesn’t get it this time should wait after the tenure of whoever will be our next president.
We believe PDP is going to produce the next President once we start this journey this time. We will ensure it goes round and it will go round with justice, fairness and the interests of Nigeria.”
Whether or not those aggrieved by the PDP decision to dump zoning in the 2023 polls will hearken to Ayu’s plea, is another issue, all together.
