Board of Trustees (BoT) member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, and chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Aminu Tambuwal, yesterday, exchanged fireworks over zoning of the presidency in 2023.

Coming shortly after southern leaders had demanded that zoning should be in its region, the Sokoto governor, in an interview monitored by Daily Sun, insisted that it would not help the party.

“The nation deserves an intelligent and competent individual with experience of operating a federal governance system and someone who has the knowledge of the complexities of Nigeria. I believe I possess such qualities. A president should be a Nigerian president and not a regional president. A president should come from somewhere and possess the capacity and the competence to fix Nigeria at the moment. The Nigeria of 1998 is different from the Nigeria of 2022.”

However, Chief George accused Tambuwal of beating the gun, as the party was yet to take a decision on zoning. “Listening to Governor Tambuwal laying out his suggestions, methodologies and proposals, I think in a nutshell, he has put the carts before the horse. How do you win an election first and then come back to zoning? That looks illogical. The founding fathers of this party sat back in 1998 and looked at the first republic to see the mitigating factors for the unnecessary friction in this country and that is how they divided Nigeria into six geopolitical zones. They also looked at the six top positions in the country because in the first Republic, majority had their way, minorities were onlookers which created so much tension and friction which led us to the first coup, civil war and all kinds of instability in the system. So, our founding-fathers having experienced that gave this country a model.’

He added: “The constitution of our party, Section 3 (Page 5) sub-section 3D, states unequivocally that zoning and rotation must be the spinal cord of our party; and you know what that means. If your spinal cord is cut, the other parts of the body are paralysed or dead. So, people who are now saying, don’t let us do that are kicking the cart down the road and it will be absolutely preposterous to do that. Let us call a spade a spade.”

Earlier, Governor Tambuwal had admonished PDP to focus more on winning the 2023 presidential poll rather than zoning

Speaking during a meeting with former members of the House of Representatives and former presiding officers of state Houses of Assembly in Abuja, he reminded the opposition party of how the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015 ignored zoning and decided on retaining the presidential slot in Katsina State, from where the late president, Umar Yar’Adua, hailed.

“You can share tickets because you can tear it up, but you must plan to win. PDP must accept this reality. The ticket must be balanced, as zoning or any Muslim-Muslim ticket or Christian-Christian ticket would be dead on arrival and recipes for disaster, he further counseled, pledging not to be lopsided in the allocation of all offices if he is considered for nomination to run for the position of President by the party.

Looking at how governorship and House of Representatives elections were contested and won in Anambra and Plateau states respectively, he analysed factors that the PDP should take into consideration if it wants to win the elections next year: demographics, intra-party wrangling rife in the APC, voter education and rigging; and, indicated that the PDP should be strategic in its nomination of who will bear its flag next year.

He said with the APC being stronger in the north with 14 governors; and the PDP sharing the same positions with it in the south, the PDP would have to “think well, plan well and win this election.”

“I am coming with my pan-Nigerian content, competences in handling federal and governance issues, in addition to having references in all the 360 constituencies in the country who can vouch for me.

“It has never been this bad for governance in this country, therefore, the President we need is one that understands the country, inclusive in his dealings and one that will allow the rule of law to flourish,” Tambuwal said, explaining that he has all the qualities and what the other aspirants in the PDP lack.

“From the array of those running for President now, I dare say that I am closer to the youths,” he said, noting that “age is a factor for what we are doing today,” just as he pointed to many of his achievements as Governor of Sokoto state despite the paucity of funds accruing to the state.

Tambuwal added: “For PDP, I have a question. Are we looking for zoning or winning? Now with due respect, what I’m going to say, I do not mean any offence, see my leader Olisah Metuh I’m going to use your state as a reference point. And with due respect to the people of a Plateau, I’ll use your state as another reference point.

“We had an election in Anambra State. The governor of Anambra State won the election with 112,000 votes. The person next to him, the PDP candidate, secured about 53,000 votes. The third the APC candidate, had 24,000 votes. The fourth YYP candidate had about 20,000 votes. Put together in that state election, governorship, we had about 220,000 votes in between four political parties.

“Jos federal constituency in Plateau State where PDP won, the PDP candidate had about 40,000, PRP had 37,000 then APC 26,000. If you add this, it is close to a 100,000. Federal constituency elections. So democracy is an issue. That is why after the election, I appeal to PDP to look at these elections, and study elections, and by elections, as we progress towards 2023….

“Yes. Atiku contested, Rabiu Musa contested. And Sam Nda Isaiah and Rochas Okorocha contested. But we knew where we’re going because we were determined to win. Let me tell you had, if APC had given that ticket to someone from the south, in particular South South, we couldn’t have won. Go and check the election results of 2007, Buhari had 11 million votes before in 2003. But in 2007, he got 7 million votes against Yar’Adua because they are from the same Katsina. Now, this is for PDP. In the south, as of today, PDP is in eight government houses. APC is also in eight government houses, leaving one; Anambra. In the north, APC is in 14 government houses, PDP is in five government houses. And they have the president. So, I am giving you this analysis so that together, as leaders of our party, who are working towards winning election, not zoning, not winning tickets. Yes we can share ticket and everybody can take his piece and go to his zone. But you must plan to win election.” (Daily Sun)

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