2023: PDP zoning committee pledges acceptable position.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Zoning Committee for the 2023 general elections has promised to come up with recommendations that would be acceptable to the party.
The Chairman of the Committee and Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, stated this while speaking with newsmen after the committee meeting held on Tuesday in Abuja.
Ortom said that the meeting had been rescheduled for next week where the 37-member committee were expected to come up with a position to be presented to the party.
“The meeting is ongoing, we just adjourned till Tuesday next week at the same time and venue. And until we conclude the proceedings, there is nothing much to say.
“So far, all the members are quite understanding. There wasn’t any form of tension.
“We understand ourselves that zoning is very key and we are looking at it that at the end of it all, we will do something that everybody will accept and we will go ahead as one big family and win the 2023 elections.”
The committee inaugurated by the National Chairman of the party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, consisted of 37 members from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Meanwhile, a PDP support group under the aegis of Justice and Equity Group, has urged the party zoning committee to throw the presidential ticket open for all the zones.
The group, in a memo signed by Messrs Ahmed Muhktar, Yemi Arokodare and Chima Ndugbu on behalf of the concerned members, said that PDP stood a better chance in the 2023 presidential election, if the ticket was made open.
In the memo titled: “Our case against zoning”, the group advised the party not to take regional or sectional decision where the party would find it difficult to win the election.
“Our position is that the presidency should not be zoned to either the South or North of the country.
“Rather it should be an open race where members of the party from both the North and South of the country are free to aspire to the office of the President of Nigeria.
“We hold this position with utmost sense of responsibility.
“It is our firm belief that the interest of the party will be better served when there is no polarity in the contest especially that arising from regional or zonal sentiments.
“We equally recognise the fact that the PDP as an opposition party is constrained in some ways. It cannot afford the luxury of boxing itself into a regional or sectional corner.
“Zoning the office of the President to any section of the country will drive it into this costly error.
“What the party needs at this time is an open and inclusive race in which no member or section of the country will be excluded.
“As a matter of fact, the PDP as an opposition party must shun the luxury of taking certain liberties. It should, instead, be guided by pragmatism and practical realities.
“And the reality here is that the party will stand stronger in the forthcoming presidential election if it forges a common bond that emphasises neither North nor South.
“With a pan-Nigerian disposition, the PDP will be in a better shape and state to win the 2023 presidential election.”