As the south clamours for the presidency in 2023, especially with the recent declaration by the 17 governors of the region, that the top job should be zoned there, there are indications that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, may open the contest to all Nigerians, irrespective of their zone.
The 17 governors had agreed, among other things, that the presidency should be zoned to the South.
However, multiple sources among the members of the National Working Committee of the PDP told Saturday PUNCH that the decision to zone would be left to the National Executive Committee of the party.
The sources also explained that it would be too early to arrive at which zone would produce the party’s presidential standard-bearer now, when the race had yet to be declared open.
However, they stated that it would be wrong for an opposition party to zone its tickets, saying the party would have to look at some variables and other strategies that could make it win the election in 2023.
They pointed out that, of the 16 years the PDP was in power, southerners were president for about 14 years.
One of the sources noted that the PDP had to take many things into consideration, the first being that the party was not in power. According to the PDP chieftain, the party must, therefore, think about many things before giving out its ticket for 2023.
“Recall that we (the PDP) were in power for 16 years. Out of that 16 years, former President Olusegun Obasanjo was in power for eight years. He handed over to President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007. Unfortunately, the former governor of Katsina State died in May 2010.
“That was when his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, was sworn in as president. Jonathan was re-elected president and was in power till 2015 when he was defeated by the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Muhammadu Buhari. So, you will see that the PDP has produced more southerners as presidents.
“Let me also say that as sound as this argument is, it is not the final say because the NEC would have to decide. But the fact still remains that no political party would want to field a weak candidate against a strong opponent and no political party would also want to marginalise other areas and concentrate power at a particular area,” the source said.
The NWC member argued that no single zone could singlehandedly produce the president.
“The North needs the South and the South also needs the North. You need to recall the number of years President Buhari had contested the presidential election before the southerners, especially the South-West, embraced him in 2015 and gave him their votes,” the source said.
Another top source stated that the southern governors needed to have gone to their political parties to convince them of the need to zone the ticket to the southern part of the country, adding that their approach could be misinterpreted as ganging up against another zone.
“I think the governors in the South should sell their idea to their colleagues from the North, and then, we will take it up from there,” the source added.
It was learnt that apart from former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto had also indicated to his close friends of his desire to run for the presidency in 2023.
Tambuwal, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, was second after Atiku who picked the party’s ticket at the PDP convention in 2018.
No southerner in the party has shown interest in the 2023 presidential race so far.
It is also unclear whether the Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike, who was a die-hard supporter of Tambuwal during the 2018 race for the presidential ticket of the PDP, will throw his hat into the ring.
When contacted, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a telephone interview, said the party had yet to take a position on the issue of a possible southern presidential candidate in the 2023 election.
“Currently, the party has not yet taken a position. But the conversation has started with our leaders. Usually, that is how the conversation will start until it crystallises. As some of the leaders of the party are speaking, a discussion has been opened in the public space, but it is not yet before the part,” he said.
