By Sunday Ani
Following the controversy trailing the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) silence on the issue of zoning its presidential ticket and insinuations that it might throw it open to aspirants from the six geopolitical zones, the party’s former Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George, has warned the party about the consequences of jettisoning its zoning arrangement at this point.
The PDP chieftain, who handed down the warning on Friday in Lagos during a media parley with select journalists, insisted that the party would lose the trust of Nigerians if it goes against Section 7 sub-section 3(c) of the party’s Constitution, which talks about zoning.
The former military governor of Ondo State warned that the party would lose so much, especially in the forthcoming general elections, if it failed to zone its presidential ticket to the Southern region of the country.
He stressed that in the spirit of equity, fairness and justice, the party must do what is just and right by zoning its presidential ticket to the South.
He insisted that the only way the party could gain the trust of Nigerians once again was for its leadership to make a definitive statement that the presidency would be zoned to the South.
He recalled that right from independence, political parties have always been ethnic based, “So in 2018, when we were preparing for the fourth republic in 1999m the founding fathers of the PDP decided to end ethnic dominion and came up with the idea of dividing Nigeria into six geo-political zones – North Central, North East, North West, South East, South-South and South West. The leaders, thereafter, decided that the six top positions in the government – the President, the Vice President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the party’s National Chairman, would be zoned among the six geo-political zones.
“So, no zone, whether minority or majority, will go home empty handed. They also agreed that after eight years, all positions in the South will go to the North and all the positions in the North will come to the South.
“But they never envisaged a situation where another political party could produce the president; it wasn’t in their political equation. And you know we were always boasting that we would remain in power for the next 60 years. But, the APC produced a Northern President in 2015,” he said.
George explained that as far as he was concerned, the zoning committee had only made a recommendation by saying the presidential ticket should be thrown open, adding that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP would still have to listen, consult and feel the pulse of the people on the issue.
“When NEC hears all the voices coming from the country, and they see that this can break or make Nigeria, maybe some sense will come into the discussion. Some people are arguing that President Muhammadu Buhari is not from our party and I laughed. I told them that he may not be a member of our party but he is from the North.
“Personally, my view is that the PDP should make a definitive statement that this thing is zoned to the South, so that we will be seen as not only obeying the law of our party, but also that when we will appear before that lady of justice blindfolded with the sword and the scale, we will be vindicated. She doesn’t care who you are, the truth will come out and I am saying this for posterity sake.
“If we start counting from 1960, together with the military era, how many people have occupied this position from the North and how many from the South? We should stop counting from 1999 because that amounts to a half-measured counting. The party must come out and be honest and say that this thing must go to the South.
“Though we don’t have the power to override our national Constitution, which gives every Nigerian the right to contest for any position of the land except if you are an ex-convict, we must be strong enough to tell the truth to power, because that is the very fundamental of democracy,” he stated.
Chief George also expressed worry over the internal crises going in various state chapters of the party as a result of its last state congresses.
He, however, called on the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, to as a matter of urgency, revisit the issues with a view to finding lasting solutions.
He warned that failure to adhere to his warning might affect the chances of the party in the states where the crises seem irresolvable, citing Lagos and Kano as examples.
George pointed out that looking into these issues and addressing them on time would prepare the party for the battle ahead.