As negotiations over the zoning of the PDP’s Presidential ticket deepens, the Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Walid Jibrin, has weighed in solidly in support of comments credited to the Rivers Governor.
Governor Nyesom Wike is quoted as saying that power should return to the South in 2023.
Jibrin who reacted barely 24 hours ago said the Governor’s posture obviously tallies with the position taken by Southern Governors drawn from all the major political parties that are holding elective offices across the country.
Wike had said in Port Harcourt that the South would speak up on the zoning of the presidency at the appropriate time when he addressed a stakeholders meeting.
Apparently reacting to claims that Wike has for some reason slammed those calling for the PDP presidential ticket to be zoned to the North, Jibrin remarked:
“There is nothing wrong with the position Governor Wike has taken on the 2023 presidential ticket of the PDP.
“People should not forget that he was a signatory to the position of the Southern Governors Forum that the presidency should move to the South in 2023.
“Also note that the Southern Governors Forum cuts across party lines because the governors that took that position are of the PDP and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). So, it’s a collective decision.”
Jibrin further stated, “Why should anyone expect Wike to go against a collective decision of his fellow southern governors.
“The views and comments made by Governor Wike cannot constitute problems for the PDP in any way.
“Every PDP member has a right to their views. It’s not only Wike that has spoken about the 2023 ticket of the PDP.
“Sule Lamido, Bala Mohammed, Aminu Tambuwal, Atiku Abubakar and a few others too have aired their views.
“PDP allows for freedom of expression. That is what makes us different from the APC.”
Thus far, the PDP leadership appears skillful in the way it is managing claims and counter claims that are emerging over zoning.
In the last seven years, arising from the defeat of the PDP in the 2015 presidential elections, the South has provided the bulwark of support for the party.
Up till now, the South South has remained a no-go-area for the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Some Northern leaders are positing in pursuit of their interest, that even if the APC were to zone power to the South, it would have no effect on the right of the PDP to tow a different line.
Bala Mohammed, Governor of Bauchi State had spoken along this line when he recently addressed the press.
He explained that northerners in the PDP are yet to benefit from the party’s rotational principle.
Mohammed alluded to the fact that the last time the PDP held power at the centre, it was the South which was the beneficiary.
Compelling as Mohammed’s argument may be, the general feeling among most enlightened Nigerians appears to suggest, it would be wrong for power to stay on in the North after eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s rule.
While the PDP skillfully goes about the debate over which part of the country should produce the next president in 2023, the horsetrading goes on quietly behind the scene.
The PDP Governors seem to be in the driving seat and their strong hold on party apparatuses might point the direction of the future.
The implication is that a break in their ranks may have far reaching repercussions for the unity of the party.
In the meantime, there are claims that five governors elected on the platform of the PDP are working at tandem with Wike.
Somehow, Wike’s view on burning national issues that are shaping Nigeria’s democracy is being taken seriously.
The Rivers Governor, going by the run of events, is gradually emerging as the major pivot of the opposition that is building against the ruling party.
Observers say that Wike’s voice would possibly count when the PDP eventually decides to sit at the roundtable to deliberate on the way forward.