2023: Why Atiku may not get PDP presidential ticket ahead of South-East candidates

With about a year to the general elections, the PDP is determined and keen on reclaiming power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). For many analysts, it is no doubt a decisive time for the leadership of the PDP as it navigates the bumpy road to the 2023 general elections.

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has charged candidates from the South-East, South-South and South-West to shelve ambitions of contesting for presidency in 2023 in line with true zoning.

According to him, the tenure of the North for the seat is yet to be completed. He said the South has had a presidential position for 16 years from 1999 and 2007 and from 2009 and 2015, adding that naturally, the North should produce the next president of the country in 2023 in line with the rotational presidency in the country. He said those clamouring for the southern presidency were doing so for their selfish interests and not for the interest of the south.

However, there are reasons why Atiku Abubakar may not get PDP Presidential ticket ahead of the Southeast presidential candidates, in 2023.

Events of the past few weeks have, however, shown the commitment of southern leaders of the party to close ranks to ensured that, the zone does not yield the ticket to the North in 2023 like it did in 2019.

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Ijaw National Leader, Edwin Clark has appealed to those aspiring for presidency in the 2023 general elections in the north to reconsider their ambition.

Clark mentioned specifically former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, former President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, Aminu Tambuwal, Governor of Sokoto State, and other aspirants from the north.

He noted that those aspiring for presidency from the north must reconsider their stance for the interest of unity, peace and progress of the country and to avoid chaos. He also stated that though the concept of zoning is not written in the constitution, rotation of power is to the best interest of the country’s unity.

Also, former spokesman of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Organisation in the 2019 elections and Commissioner in Edo state, Prince Kassim Afegbua has urged the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to look beyond the former Vice President and cede its Presidential ticket to the South ahead of the 2023 general election.

Prince Afegbua, who is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged the party to jettison any thought of ceding the 2023 presidential position to the northern part of the country, as doing so would run contrary to democratic principles of fairness, balance and inclusion.

He dismissed Atiku renewed interest in the Presidency as an expired product, stressing that the former Vice President has demonstrated procedural disconnect to recommend him for the leadership of a new Nigeria.