By Dirisu Yakubu For Vanguard
AHEAD of the Presidential primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on May 28 and 29, the Iyorchia Ayu-led National Working Committee, NWC and other layers of the party’s leadership are finding it difficult to make things easier for the aspirants.
So far, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Senate President Bukola Saraki; Governors Aminu Tambuwal; and Bala Mohammed of Sokoto and Bauchi states respectively; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim; and ace publisher, Dele Momodu, have obtained the N40m expression of interest and nomination forms.
This is amid clamour for zoning the presidential ticket to the South or throwing it open.
Proponents of zoning insist that in 2019, there was an unanimous agreement for the North to produce the presidential candidate of the party, a development that led to the party selling the nomination forms to only aspirants of northern extraction.
Thus, all 12 aspirants, who squared up for the ticket at the primaries held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, were northerners.
Consequently, the likes of Governor Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) have been consistent in their call for a similar scenario now with the South as the beneficiary.
However, Ayu has not been able to take a categorical stand on whether the party would zone or throw the race open to all eligible contestants.
Last week, Dele Momodu warned of the danger of shutting anyone out of the race in the name of zoning, noting N40m in any currency is a huge sum of money to be collected “for services not rendered.”
His words: “On the issue of zoning or no zoning, I believe that allowing all aspirants to buy their forms at N40 million suggests that the race is open to all, regardless of what part of Nigeria they come from. It is practically and legally impossible for a political party to disqualify an aspirant on account of zoning after collecting a whopping N40 million for services not rendered. I am therefore happy to join this race and I am expecting a level playing ground for all aspirants as repeatedly promised by our respectable and cerebral national chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu,” he said.
In what appeared as a shot fired in the direction of Atiku Abubakar, who has been severally accused of turning his back against the party in its moment of crisis, Momodu commended PDP for standing up to be counted in rain and shine, adding that the South has done enough to preserve unity and cohesion within the party fold.
“I wish to humbly suggest to the formidable southern leaders not to panic about zoning at all. I love their resolve on insisting that power must shift to the south and the only assured way to achieve this is for all the southern regions to unite and reach out to their friends in other parts of the country. The unity of our country should be paramount, but it should be based on mutual respect.
The appointment of Governor Samuel Ortom as chairman of the 37-man committee on zoning was announced last week by national chairman of PDP, Senator Iyorchia Ayu. The Benue State governor is expected to provide the needed leadership that would guide the brainstorming in coming up with an answer to the necessity or otherwise of zoning.
A member of the committee told Vanguard that “there is no way the committee would advise the party to cede its presidential ticket to any of the zones, given that forms are already being sold. The most likely counsel our panel would give is to encourage every member of our party with the requisite qualification and enablement to vie for the ticket. That would be in interest of democracy,” he added.
The big questions
How prepared is the South to rally support for a northern candidate in the event of the emergence of one on May 28 this year? Should the party think about winning first and power sharing later as Governor Tambuwal recently advocated? Won’t the South see itself as an appendage of the North if the ticket is thrown open? These are the questions the Ayu-led NWC would answer as skeletal preparations for the 2023 general election begin.
9ja Parrot 