Ahead of the Peoples Democratic Party’s National Convention, there have been signs of dissenting voices in the party already due to disagreements on the zoning formula of the party for both presidential candidacy and Party Chairmanship in the Party.
These divergent views have become visible especially as it is between the Governor of Oyo State, Engr Seyi Makinde, and Former Senate President of Nigeria, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim as the former, who is in support of the suggested zoning formula and the latter, against the zoning formula.
Reports gathered by our correspondent reveals that, ahead of the National Executive Council meeting of PDP which is slated for Wednesday, September 29th, 2021, Party Members are already taking sides and political bigwigs are already creating camps within the Party as the zoning Issue is slowly sparking controversies.
From a source with the Party who pleaded anonymity, there are two groups already, as Governor Makinde is said to be leading the “Maintain the Status Quo Group ” which believes that the 2017 zoning structure which favoured the North for the Presidential ticket of the Party, should be used rather than changing previous agreements.
However, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim is rumoured to be leading the “Move Around Group” which prefers the National Chairmanship position to be zoned to the North, so that the Presidential ticket of the party can go to the South.
Senator Anyim during an earlier meeting of the zoning committee in Enugu led an argument against the zoning formula that suggests that the Presidential ticket of the Party goes to the North, as he pointed out that, it will be sheer injustice for the North to continue in power after President Buhari who is a Northerner has already been in power for 8 years.
He also expressed disappointment that despite the support the South-East has given to PDP since 1999, the zone is not considered for the Presidential ticket of the Party ahead of the 2023 General Elections.
However, Governor Makinde said that the 2017 zoning formula allows for the North to have the Presidential ticket and the South-West to have the National Party Chairmanship position to be used.
It is rumoured that Makinde supports the emergence of Eyitayo Jegede as the PDP national Chairman as this will continue to keep the South-West region at a point of relevance as well as give him an edge over others in terms of respect and influence in the Party.
Meanwhile, the Southern Governors in PDP apart from Governor Makinde, are against the idea of the North picking the Party Presidential ticket come 2023 and they are rumoured to be ready for any resistance it will take for the Party to backtrack on its zoning formula.
Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State who heads the zoning committee of the Party, is now in a fix on what to do, as failure to balance interests, can lead to serious internal crisis in the Party before or after its National Convention which is to hold on October 30th and 31st, 2021.
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