Former Senate President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential hopeful, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, has warned the party against discarding zoning in choosing the 2023 Presidential flagbearer, saying the decision may weaken the party.
He said his concern about zoning is not personal but the need to protect the party against flouting its constitution.
“This is a constitutional matter. Some people may get away with it but in the meantime, it will weaken our party. This makes it a concern to some of us,” he said.
Anyim, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation spoke, on the Political Roundtable on Mainland FM in Lagos.
Daily Trust reports that there has been a raging controversy in the PDP over zoning amidst speculations that the party has throw open the race.
However, the former Senate President said for equity and fairness, the position must be ceded to the South and South East in particular.
He said, “I have no personal concern about zoning but I have corporate concern about zoning because it is a constitutional matter within the PDP. So when an organisation is not in a position to follow the constitution, the worry I have is that some people may get away with it in the interim but in the long term, it will weaken that organisation and the organisation will no longer have the power to criticise its members.
“So the fact that it is a constitutional matter in PDP, it makes it much more concern to some of us if it is not followed.”
Anyim who also spoke on the move by some Northern aspirants to come up with a consensus arrangement said the elders of the South East have not initiated such discussion in the zone.
However, he said the aspirants have met and are working together to bring the ticket to the South-East “because it is the turn of the region to produce the next President”.
The former Senate President stated that while he would not compare himself with any of the aspirants, he said he has the national exposure and the cognate experience having presided over the Senate and headed the engine room of the presidency in the past.
“I am simply returning to the terrain I am familiar with. All my experience has been in Abuja. My constituency is national and I want to say that nationwide, my experience is cognate,” he said.
If elected as President, Anyim who served as SGF under President Goodluck Jonathan, said his mission and that of the PDP would be to rescue Nigeria from total collapse, stressing that every parameter points to the fact Nigeria is bleeding.
He promised to run “an inclusive governance that is responsive to the people and that will actually give every person a sense of belonging and a sense of commitment to this nation.”
“The most important thing I will do is to unify the people. Actually people think the economy is a major problem. The real issue is that we need to build a nation. I will set the foundation to build this nation on a steady path of growth, on a steady path of patriotism, prosperity and development,” he added.
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