PDP may decide on zoning on Tuesday 

Moves To Produce Presidential Candidates In APC, PDP Thickens 

The contentious issue of which zone that the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should be zoned to may be resolved on Tuesday, at the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, in Abuja.

In October last year when the party zoned the position of its national chairman to the North Central, it announced that its decision on the zoning of the presidency would be made known when the presidential primary election approaches.

A source at the party’s national secretariat disclosed, yesterday, that the critical decision on zoning, as well as its schedule of activities and guidelines for the 2023 general elections, may be taken at the meeting.

It was learnt that All Progressives Congress (APC) governors and their PDP counterparts may have intensified efforts to ensure that the two major political parties produce their candidates from among their midst, and they are consulting seriously on how to achieve the feat.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had said that primary elections must take place between April and June.

“I don’t know how they will realise it, but the governors are desperate to ensure that one of them emerges as the next president. In both the APC and PDP, the move is strong. They are using their umbrella bodies in both parties to perfect strategies towards attaining this. The Progressive Governors’ Forum headed by Governor Atiku Bagudu is handling that for the APC, while the PDP Governors’ Forum, headed by Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State is in charge of the move within the PDP,” the source disclosed.

The governors, it was further learnt, believe that they have the competence, experience, age advantage and contemporary connections needed to rebuild the nation.

Across the two parties, state governors insist on controlling party structures ahead of their congresses and presidential primaries.

Another source close to the PDP Governors’ Forum disclosed that: “In a matter of days, the governors will make a formal declaration in this direction.”

State governors took over the APC national leadership in 2020 when Adams Oshiomole was removed. In the PDP, the governors took charge and installed the present leadership of the party in October 2021.

The PDP governors have intensified consultations among party leaders ahead of the PDP national caucus meeting scheduled for tomorrow, in Abuja as well as the Party’s NEC meeting on Tuesday.

It was also gathered that the governors may work behind the scene to support any party that takes its presidential candidate from their forum, in the event that one of the two major political parties breaks ranks and picks its candidate outside the forum