While the southern politicians on the platform of PDP want the party to zone the presidential ticket to the southern region for them to produce the next President of the country, the northern politicians are also pushing to produce the party’s standard bearer to retain power beyond 2023.
The main argument of the southern leaders is that the northern region is currently occupying the presidential position of the country and the southern region should be allowed to produce the next president after the eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The southern politicians also argued that the northern region produced the presidential candidate of PDP in 2019 and the south should be allowed to produce the next presidential candidate by zoning the party’s ticket to the southern region.
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However, recent revelation has shown that the northern politicians have come up with new arguments in the bid to counter the agitation for zoning by their southern counterparts.
PDP Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu
In a report by Tribune Newspaper, the northern cabals in a later sent to the National Chairman of PDP, Iyorchia Ayu, argued that nobody has the right to exclude the northern Nigeria from aspiring for the position of President on the ground that the northern region has never had the opportunity of occupying the position for four years under the 16 years of PDP’s reign.
The Northern politicians also argued that from 1999 to 2023, the south would have ruled Nigeria for 14 years, while the North, for 10 years. On this ground, they believed that the north has a shortfall of four years and priority should rather be given to zone the party’s ticket to the northern Nigeria to guarantee what they described as equity, fairness, and justice.
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Part of the arguments of the northern politicians is that since the last Nigerian President under PDP, Goodluck Jonathan hails from the southern region, it is the turn of the northern region to produce the next presidential candidate of PDP.
Southern Region May Lose Out In PDP
With the new arguments of the northern cabals, the southern region may lose out in the race to produce the presidential candidate of the main opposition party.
The northern politicians on the platform of PDP seem to have superior argument because the northern region only ruled for two years during the administration of late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua under the 16 years of PDP’s reign in Nigeria.
With the new argument, it would be difficult for northern politicians like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and others to shelve their ambitions for southern politicians like Peter Obi, Anyim Pius Anyim and others to fly the presidential ticket of the party.
With the current controversy over the presidential ticket of PDP, the party may not zone the ticket to the southern region to avoid crisis that may affect the chances of the party during presidential election.
The north has 19 states and has the largest number of party delegates, it would be difficult for the southern politicians to defeat the northern presidential hopefuls during the presidential primaries.