The members of a certain group, Concerned Nigerian Citizens, on Wednesday, 4th May 2022, staged a peaceful protest at the National Secretariat of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) over zoning of the party’s presidential ticket.
They barricaded the entrance to the complex, demanding that the presidential ticket of the party in the impending 2023 election in Nigeria should be zoned to the Southern part of the country.
It’s noteworthy that Southern Nigeria with 17 states has three zones, namely, South-East, South-South and South-West.
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The protesters held placards with some inscriptions like “It is the turn of Southern Nigeria to produce the President”, and “Stop frustrating Southern Presidency.”
They wondered why the PDP was yet to announce its decision on zoning a few days to the party’s presidential primary.
The protesters were seemingly among many members of the PDP, and Nigerians at large, who anxiously await the party’s final decision on zoning. They were also among many who had asked that the presidential ticket be zoned to the South.
The PDP had in March 2022, inaugurated the Governor Samuel Ortom-led zoning committee. The panel was asked to make recommendations on a zoning formula for the various electoral offices ahead of next year’s polls.
Though the panel had reportedly submitted its report to the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), no official announcement has been made on its recommendations.
There are, however, speculations that the panel has recommended that the presidential ticket be thrown open to all interested aspirants. It’s worth noting that the PDP had already screened 17 presidential hopefuls – from across different regions in the country.
Addressing newsmen, a leader of the group, Femi Osabinu, noted that the rotation of power in Nigeria goes beyond the mere aspiration of political parties, but also a tool for ensuring national unity and stability.
In this regard, he said candidates from Southern Nigeria must be allowed to occupy the position of President in the country come 2023.
“The established convention is that power must rotate between the North and the South. Hence, a President of Northern extraction follows that of Southern extraction, and vice versa. Any consideration outside of this is foul and may destabilise the polity.”
He said by doing so, the party would be respecting the established convention of power rotation and contributing to the dire need, to restore stability and national cohesion, back into the nation’s polity.
“It is the turn of the Southern part of the country to produce the next President, and we believe that your party, should have no difficulty in coming out with a categorical declaration, on this very important issue, in the next few days.
“This must be done without delay. The principle of Federal Character is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, as amended. Remember, there won’t be PDP or APC if there is no country called Nigeria. Let us put Nigeria first in our resolutions.”
The party’s next NEC meeting is scheduled to hold next Tuesday being May 10, and it is hoped that it would announce its decision on zoning ahead of its presidential primary slated for May 28 and 29, 2022.
As the so-called concerned group goes about agitating for zoning as regards the impending presidential polls in Nigeria, I enjoin them to rather lay more emphasis on the need for the various political parties to shift their respective interests to the South-East zone, which is yet to produce a president since the inception of the Fourth Republic in the country.
It’s worthy of note that among the three aforementioned zones found in the Southern part of Nigeria, only the South-East is being short-changed; meaning literally that the country is yet to boast of a president of the South-East extraction.
However, as we clamour for such equity and fairness, the people of the South-East must take into cognizance that only their collective efforts would guarantee the actualization of such a quest, hence the need to form a formidable coalition among themselves towards achieving a common goal.
Politics is simply a game, therefore, the people of the zone ought to be prepared to play it as expected of them as a group.