- PDP Postpones NEC Meeting To Next Week
- Uncertainties Over APC’s Position As Fayemi Changes Narrative With Declaration
The two major political parties in Nigeria, the ruling All-Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are keeping Nigerians on their toes on which region of the country will the Presidential candidates of the two parties will come from.
Many Nigerians had hoped that a clear indication will emerge on Thursday on which region of the country the PDP will zone its presidential ticket to as the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party was scheduled to meet.
However, in a twist, the party announced the postponement of the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting earlier slated for Wednesday, May 4 2022 to Monday next week.
The party, in a statement signed by the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, announced that the NEC meeting was rescheduled because the initial date clashed with the local government delegates’ election involving all members of the party.
The NEC meeting will now hold on the 8th of May at 2 pm.
With this development, Nigerians will have to wait a little longer to know the decision of the PDP on the zoning of its presidential ticket.
The NEC meeting is crucial to the party as it is expected to offer the party the platform to discuss the report of the 37-man committee, which allegedly threw the presidential ticket of the party open to all zones.
The NEC, in its upcoming meeting, is expected to finalise the zoning formula that will guide its decision on where its presidential candidate will emerge from for the forthcoming 2023 election.
Similarly, the APC is still keeping Nigerians in the dark about where it will pick its presidential candidate from.
Indications are beginning to surface that the ruling party is yet to take a definite stance on which region of the country will produce its candidate for the forthcoming presidential election a few days before the primary election scheduled for May 30.
Statements from different quarters within the party are indicative that uncertainty is beginning to creep into the ruling party, as some chieftains of the party are mulling the possibility of zoning the presidential ticket to the North, in a bid to counter the country’s main opposition party, PDP whose body language suggests it may pick its candidate from the north.
An internal source who spoke with the members of the press disclosed that the APC is waiting for the outcome of PDP’s presidential primary scheduled for May 28 and May 29 before it would take a final position.
The source added that despite the fact that the majority of the APC presidential aspirants are southerners, the party may decide to zone the ticket to any part of the country.
“The presidential ticket can go anywhere. In fact, we will get a strong northern candidate that can defeat the PDP if it zones its presidency to the North,” the source was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, a chieftain of the party and Director-General (DG) of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, while addressing members of the press on Monday attributed the uncertainty of the APC on zoning to the prevarication of the PDP on the zoning of its presidential ticket.
Okechukwu said the APC had been watching with keen interest “the desperation of the PDP to prey on President Muhammadu Buhari’s 12 million vote bank.”
According to him, the ruling party is aware of the strong will of the PDP to sweep away the 12 million votes bank of Buhari by fielding a northerner as its candidate in 2023.
In his words, “Although one is not holding the brief of our distinguished national Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, one’s little understanding is that the leadership of our great party is watching closely the desperation and antics of our elder sister political party, the PDP.
“They want to capture power, by all means, using Machiavellian tactics. We all know that PDP is famished, thirsty, and desperate to win the Presidency in 2023. They loathe the loss of their slogan, ‘Share the Money’, through their absence from power at the centre for seven going to eight years.”.
The Chairman of the party, Adamu does not seem to be helping matters as well going by statements credited to him.
He had in an interview with State House correspondents on Friday, said the party had yet to zone its presidential ticket.
This statement did not go down well with youth under the aegis of the Middle Belt Youths Forum, MBYF who cautioned the party chairman to always consult with President Muhammadu Buhari on the issue of zoning before making public statements on it.
In a statement by their leader, Godwin Meliga, the group said the consultation with the president, as the leader of the party, was important because according to it, Adamu was new in the saddle and may not be thoroughly abreast with some decisions taken before his emergence.
To this end, the group tasked the APC national chairman to consult President Muhammadu Buhari on key issues, especially on zoning which it noted, had already been zoned to the southern part of the country.
The statement read, “It is important at this point that Senator Adamu should consult with the leader of the party, President Buhari, before making statements that will continue to drag the party and the nation backward.
“The issue of where the next President should come from has since been settled by stakeholders.
“It is not in doubt that the consensus is that the next President should come from the South. Why is Adamu, therefore, talking from both sides of his mouth?
“Our advice for the elder statesman is that he should be consulting widely before making public statements on matters like this.”
Nigerians are however waiting with bated breath to know where the presidential candidates of the two leading parties will come from, only time will tell.
