I wish to task the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the eligibility and candidacy for the next presidential election in Nigeria, and zoning the party’s presidential ticket to the North ahead of the 2023 elections.
This is not as a result of just hate or disguised guile but rather, it is a consideration based on sense of equity and fairness and definitely in the larger overall consideration for the unity of the country.
- Jos crisis: Call for sack of GOC 3 division distraction to peace in Plateau – Army
- Lawyer petitions EFCC, ICPC, accuses Surveyor-General of fraud
To zone the presidency to the North and disenfranchise the political interest, aspirations and avowed and openly canvassed political position of the entire leadership of the Southern part of the country, will be insensitive, unjust, inequitable and a total subjugation of the principle of fairness and justice.
If the PDP cannot zone the presidency to the South then it must make the contest for the presidency at the nomination convention open to all its members no matter what part of the country they come from.
I wish to further debunk the idea that voters in the North are easily swayed by consideration for one of their own, a notion that is outright fallacy.
In 1993 presidential election, the late MKO Abiola won elections in Northern states even though he contested against a Northern candidate.
The PDP must not seek power as an opportunistic political party that believes in pursuit of power at any or all costs but must seek power still respecting the aspirations and genuine desires of the federating component units of this country.
Dr Doyin Okupe is a former presidential spokesman
