PDP goes for NEC meeting amidst heat over zoning of 2023 presidential ticket

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is going into its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Thursday in the storm of contention over the zoning of the party’s national chairman to the north, which presupposes the zoning of the presidential ticket to the south. The PDP Committee on Zoning led by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, had in its report zoned the PDP national chairman to the north, and the national secretary to the south. Governor Ugwuanyi had earlier said that the committee did not have the mandate to zone the president and other political offices but only positions in the leadership of the party.

Albeit there has been no formal pronouncement on zoning of the 2023 presidential ticket of the party, but many party leaders have been apprehensive since the announcement of the zoning of the national chairman to the north, generating disquiets that the president may have been zoned to the south for the 2023 elections as has been known of the power sharing schemes of parties in the country over the years.

A northern presidential aspirant, Sule Lamido, former Governor of Jigawa State, had protested that zoning the PDP presidential ticket to the south in 2023 is not possible.

Lamido had on BBC Hausa service insisted that the presidential ticket cannot be zoned to the south because of the personal interest of few individuals.

The PDP NEC meeting will have this contentious issue, among others, to resolve this Thursday.

Before now, prominent presidential aspirants of the party had been mobilizing from the north. They include former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, former Governor Sule Lamido, etc.