Presidency 2023: Why Yahaya Bello may defect as APC’s “Zoning Formula” favour’s Tinubu

Ahead of the 2023 general elections, there are indications that Yahaya Bello may not get the opportunity to pursue his 2023 presidential ambition under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC)

The Kogi State governor, who promised to formally declare his presidential ambition after the forthcoming APC national convention, expressed optimism that he would beat other aspirants to the APC’s presidential ticket and become the next president

However, with the recent zoning formula agreed on by chieftains of the APC, it appears that Governor Yahaya Bello’s chances of becoming the APC’s flag-bearer in 2023 are very slim.

According to National Daily report, in a meeting between the governors under the APC platform and President Buhari, it was agreed that in the forthcoming national convention of the party, all offices held by southerners in the last 8 years should go to the north and vice versa. This means that the chairmanship position of the party which has been held by southerners would be zoned to the north.

With this, political analysts say that the southern part of the country will likely produce the next presidential candidate of the party since the incumbent is from the north. Also, it will be a political oddity for the north to produce both the national chairman and presidential candidate of the party.

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The agreed zoning formula of the APC arguably favours Bola Tinubu, the national leader of the party who is perhaps the most influential and powerful APC presidential aspirant from the south.

Yahaya Bello who has always insisted that zoning of presidency to a particular region is unconstitutional will rather defect to the PDP which has hinted that it will throw its presidential ticket open for contest to all six regions, than shelving his presidential ambition simply because the APC’s zoning arrangement doesn’t favour the north where he is from