PDP: Stakeholders want zoning dumped as Ortom’s c’ttee adjourns sitting

Ahead of the 2023 general elections, a pressure group within the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Justice and Equity, yesterday said the presidential ticket of the party should be thrown open to anybody that is interested. 

The group said instead of restricting the ticket to either the South or North of the country, all Nigerians should be allowed to exercise their rights. 

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In a memo to the zoning committee jointly signed by Hon. Ahmed Muhktar, Hon Yemi Arokodare and Barrister Chima Ndugbu, the group said the members expressed the belief that the interest of the party will be better served when there is no polarity in the contest, especially that arising from regional or zonal sentiments.

They argued that PDP, as an opposition party, cannot afford the luxury of boxing itself into a regional or sectional corner in the name of zoning. 

The justice group said it would be a costly error for an opposition party that has no power to be zoning what it does not have, adding that “Our position is that the presidency should not be zoned to either the South or North of the country.

“Zoning the office of the president to any section of the country will drive it into this costly error. What the party needs at this time is an open and inclusive race in which no member or section of the country will be excluded.”

Meanwhile, the members of the PDP zoning committee for the 2023 general elections rose from a meeting in Abuja on Tuesday without coming to an amicable position for the party. 

The meeting was, therefore, rescheduled for next week when the 37-member committee is expected to come up with a position to present to the party. 

Addressing journalists after the meeting that lasted for about three hours, the chairman of the committee and Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, said the committee will come out with an acceptable position for all the members. 

Even though the members were yet to come to a compromise, Ortom said “the meeting was peaceful without any tension.” 

“The meeting is yet to be concluded. We have adjourned till Tuesday next week at the same time, same venue. And until we conclude the proceedings, there is not much to say. So far, all the members are quite understanding. There wasn’t any form of tension,” Ortom said.

Ortom, flanked by the vice chairman of the committee, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu and Chief Bode George among others, said “all the members understand ourselves that zoning is very key and we are looking at it that at the end of it all, we will do something that everybody will accept and we will go ahead as one big family and win the 2023 elections.” 

The committee has 37 members drawn from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja and inaugurated by the National Chairman of the party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu.