State governors of the Peoples Democratic Party on Thursday threw their weight behind the zoning of the party’s national chairmanship to the North.
The PDP governors made their position known on the matter as the party’s National executive Committee adopted the report of the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi-led PDP zoning committee during its 94th NEC meeting, in Abuja.
But this did not go down well with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who cautioned that the party should be guided by the spirit of fairness and equity in arriving at who emerges its presidential standard bearer in 2023 instead of adopting ethnic consideration in zoning the ticket.
Governor Ugwanyi’s committee had recommended that all party positions held by southerners be swapped with those currently being occupied by northerners.
According to the committee’s report, “The current offices being held by officers in the southern zones of the country, namely, South-West, South-East and South-South zones, should swap places with the offices currently in the northern zones of Nigeria, namely, North-West, North-East and North-Central zones.”
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, who addressed newsmen at the end of the meeting said, “NEC adopted the report of the Ifeanyi Ugwanyi’s Committee on the Zoning of offices of the National Working Committee.”
When asked about the party’s decision on the issue of the zoning of the 2023 presidential ticket, Ologbondiyan said, “The issue of the Governor Bala Mohammed Committee came up and it was resolved that it should be deferred till another NEC meeting. Today’s meeting was to consider the Ugwuanyi committee report and that was what he did.”
The Bauchi governor-led Committee on the review of the 2019 general elections recommended that all bonafide party members should be eligible to contest the PDP presidential ticket.
Sources hinted that ahead of the Thursday NEC meeting, PDP governors had held a meeting on Wednesday night at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, before heading to another meeting in the early hours of Thursday at the Rivers State Governors’ Lodge.
It was gathered that it was at the meeting that the governors harmonised their position to be presented at the NEC meeting.
But Atiku in his opening remarks at the NEC meeting appealed to the party leaders not to zone the PDP presidential ticket for 2023, saying Nigerians were only interested in having a President that will be acceptable to the entire country.
He said, “Where the President comes from has never been the problem of Nigeria neither will it be the solution. There is no such thing as a president from southern Nigeria, or a president from northern Nigeria. There is only one, a president from Nigeria, for Nigeria and for Nigerians.
“The Peoples Democratic Party has the right to determine its rules on how the party should be governed, the people of Nigeria have the right to determine who governs them.
He said, “Where the President comes from has never been the problem of Nigeria. It will not be the solution to the problems of Nigeria. There is no such thing as a President from Southern Nigeria or a President from Northern Nigeria. There is only one President, a President of Nigeria, for Nigeria and by Nigerians.
“The Peoples Democratic Party has the right to determine its rules on how the party should be governed. The people of Nigeria also have the right to determine who governs them.”
Earlier in his opening remarks, PDP acting national chairman, Elder Yemi Akinwonmi, appealed to party members to close ranks so as to be able to retrieve the Presidency in 2023
Governors Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Godwin Obaseki (Edo) and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state attended the meeting.
Also in attendance were Governors Samuel Ortom, Duoye Diri, Ifeanyi Okowa and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Benue, Bayelsa, Delta and Enugu states, respectively.
Other party chieftains at the meeting were former Senate Presidents-Iyorchia Ayu, Adolphus Wabara, Pius Anyim, David Mark and Bukola Saraki; Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Senator Walid Jibrin, former governors and ex-Ministers, among others.
