PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND ZONING

The party is on a suicide mission, contends Uche Offiah

The labour of our heroes past

Shall never be in vain

To build a nation where peace and justice shall rein -Nigerian National Anthem

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was a brain child of G34, formed to wrestle power from Nigeria military after several years of dictatorship. The G34 led by the late former Nigerian vice president, Chief Alex Ekwueme dialogued and settled on a retired military general, and former military Head of state, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as their presidential candidate in the 1999 presidential election under the PDP. A landmark gentleman’s agreement was also reached which includes the breaking of Nigeria into six zones as well as for the presidency of Nigeria to rotate between North and South.

  The party gave the first choice to the South west in an attempt to empathise with them for the glaring injustice done to Chief M.K.O Abiola, who clearly won 1993 presidential election annulled by the military government.

In line with the gentleman’s agreement, all the presidential candidates of the PDP for the election were from the western zone of the country. Some of them included General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd) and Chief Olu Falaye. Chief Obasanjo won and after eight years, late President Umaru Yar’Adua took over.  Dr. Peter Odili, the former Governor of Rivers state, was almost cruising to victory as the PDP candidate but was prevailed upon to step down for Alhaji Yar’Adua to keep faith with the agreement on zoning.

President Yar’Adua’s tenure was aborted by the cold hands of death and constitutionally, his vice, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was to complete the tenure which ended in the 2011. GEJ contested on his own as a seating president and won. The attempt to contest for the second term by President Goodluck was vehemently opposed by the Northern elite who advised GEJ to respect the zoning agreement and the disagreement led to the exodus of powerful northern politicians to join then opposition party APC which eventually won 2015 presidential election.

It is noteworthy that the All Progressives Change (APC) also bought into the zoning principle and agreed that after President Buhari the presidency would rotate to the south. The lacuna remains that zoning is not in the constitution, it is just a convention. 2023 presidential election could prove to be a litmus test for the survival of the zoning agreement as Nigeria would witness how the two major parties; PDP and APC would keep faith or otherwise in the zoning arrangement. There is no official pronouncement so far from the two major parties because of divergent opinions from each party on the zoning issue.

However, APC seems to upheld the zoning principle-but PDP’s body language is in the contrary. The searchlight is on Chief Bola Tinubu, the nominal leader of the party; the vice president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo; the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, Kayode Fayemi  and the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola as well as Chief Ken Nnamani, former Senate President together with the Senate Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu.

For the opposition party PDP, the confusion has reached the peak despite the fact that the chairmanship is effectively occupied by Dr. Iyorchia Ayu. The clamour for the presidential ticket from the North disregards the zoning arrangement while the south insists on zoning. The Southern Governors had long insisted on zoning come the 2023 presidential election.

The gambling attempt to dump the zoning legacy that PDP bequeathed Nigeria democracy is a suicide mission. If the North succeeds in this gamble, PDP would live to regret it, whether the party wins the presidency in 2023 or not. It is an unforgivable offence to destroy a legacy the founding fathers of PDP built with personal sacrifices and hard labour just for the interest of a handful selfish individuals with neither the interest of the nation nor the party at heart.

Genuine statesmen and women in Nigeria, especially former heads of state and all those who believe in one Nigeria and fought to keep it united, should speak out against injustice, inequity and unfairness.

Similarly, all those who have enjoyed the dividend of zoning from the Southwest, Northwest and South-south should rise up with one voice in support of the zoning principle that gives every zone a sense of belonging. It is a win-win situation for every zone. Besides, the Southeast suffered all-round marginalisation for eight solid years for supporting GEJ of South-South in 2015 and also Chief Obasanjo of Southwest when even the Southwest rejected him. There is a dire need for every zone in the south to reciprocate Southeast for the support given to them in the past.

The potential candidates of PDP from the Southeast include the former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi; former Senate President and former Secretary to Federal Government (SGF) Chief Pius Anyim; Chief MAO Ohuabunwa an accomplished private sector guru; the former President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo with several ministerial positions, among others. For the Southeast, it is the presidency or nothing. In fact, the Southeast elder’s consultative forum Abuja has threatened any surrogate politician who accepts the position of vice-presidential candidate with stiff sanctions.

Despite the gains of zoning, many politicians of fortune are doing everything to destroy this legacy. PDP cannot afford to destroy the house it built just for personal ambition and sectional interest.

 Offiah writes from Abuja