With about two days to the national convention of ruling All Progressive Congress APC, indications have emerged that some party chieftains may be planning to tinker with the zoning arrangement for a key National Working Committee (NWC) position. The NWC position is the national secretary of the party.
The position has already been zoned to the Southwest. This is as the report also claims there is an unwritten understanding and agreement that the 2023 presidential candidate of the party should come from the Southwest.
However, some party chieftains who are not happy that the Southwest will get the presidency and also have the chance to produce the national secretary are planning to tinker with the zoning formula so that the national secretary position can be re-zoned to the South-South or thrown open to all regions.
Recall that Southwest Governors had already endorsed Senator Iyiola Omisore for the national secretary position. Omisore is also believed to be the preferred choice of Presidential aspirant, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Prior to the plans by these party chieftains to tinker with the zoning of the party scribe to the Southwest, Omisore’s endorsement has been causing ripples among stakeholders of the party. There are claims that loyalists of the president who are members of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), one of legacy parties that formed APC, want Ife Oyedele to occupy the position.
His endorsement has also been condemned by the Osun Progressives (TOP) a faction of the APC in Osun State where Omisore comes from. Also, aspirants from Oyo State who bought nomination forms for the national secretary position have promised not to abide by the endorsement of Omisore as the consensus candidate from the Southwest.
As opposition continue to trail the endorsement of Omisore, the former Osun deputy Governor risks missing out completely from being the new party scribe if those planning to tinker with the zoning of the NWC positions succeeds with their plans.