*Asks PDP NEC to take final decision on zoning
Ahead of Thursday’s submission of its report to the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Samuel Ortom-led committee on zoning Tuesday met behind closed doors at the Benue Governor’s lodge, Asokoro, Abuja.
The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party at its 95th meeting, set up a 37-man committee with a mandate to recommend to the party whether to zone the 2023 Presidential ticket or not, among other elective offices.
With members drawn from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the party assured that the committee would come up with a position acceptable to its members particularly in the zoning of elective offices.
Addressing newsmen at the end of the meeting, Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom said: “By the Grace of God, we have unanimously adopted a position that will be sent to the NEC of our party that appointed us.
“The good news for teaming supporters of the PDP and Nigerians is that we have resolved and everyone of us – the 37 members – unanimously adopted the position that we are going to present to NEC.”
Although Ortom was evasive on zoning, there are speculations that it would urge NEC to throw the presidential race open to all Nigerians.
Some of its recommendations include the “affirmation of zoning as provided in the PDP constitution; ticket is thrown open, this time around due to exigency of time; Our party is encouraged to always make the issue of zoning very clear at least 6 months before sales of forms; our party should commend the efforts of some our contestants on the issue of consensus candidacy; the efforts should be seen to a peaceful and logical conclusion.
An unofficial source is quoted as saying that voting demography in the 2019 Presidential election won the argument in favour of throwing the ticket open rather than zone to a particular region.
According to the source, “reference was made to the 10 states with the highest turnout of voters in the 2019 election. Of these 10, 9 were Northern states and only Lagos made the list. Kano, Kaduna, Katsina had the highest number of voters’ turnout while Lagos came a distant fourth.
“The logic here is that aspirants should be allowed to test their popularity at the primary election but if they choose to adopt a consensus approach, that will be acceptable to the party. It is a position members of the committee were comfortable with.”
In 2019, the party zoned its Presidential ticket to the North, arguing that the zone needed to complete its slot following the death on May 5, 2010 of President Umaru Yar’Adua who spent two years and 11 months in office. As a result, 12 Northern aspirants gathered in Port Harcourt for the 2018 primary election, which was eventually won by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Party chieftains from the South have argued that in the spirit of equity, the favour should be returned this time to the South.
However, founding fathers of the party including Atiku and former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, continue to insist that as an opposition party, the PDP would dim its chances if it excludes a section of the country from the Presidential race.
At the meeting were governors Darius Ishaku (Taraba Sate), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu States); ex-governors Ahmed Makarfi (Kaduna), Boni Haruna (Adamawa), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina) and Sule Lamido (Jigawa).
Others were former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, erstwhile Minister of Special Duties and Inter Governmental Relations, Tanimu Turaki and Chairman, PDP Disciplinary Committee, Chief Tom Ikimi, among others.