- Vice-Presidency, count me out – Wike
- South should succeed Buhari – Clark
BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – With heightening political activities and maneuverings ahead of the 2023 general elections, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is already having its hands full as the party’s leaders now bicker over zoning arrangements for the presidential ticket.
Quite expectedly, two frontline political leaders from the South-South zone, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark are leading the charge with their insistence that it is the South’s turn to produce the PDP’s flag-bearer for the forthcoming election.
Addressing PDP stakeholders at the Government House in Port Harcourt yesterday, Governor Wike warned against undermining the interest of the South whenever the opposition party decides the choice of its presidential candidate ahead of the 2023 contest.
The governor, who made reference to speculations about his interest and position on the 2023 presidency, said; “Please, discountenance anything you’re seeing and hearing; all those social media posts. The South will make a statement very soon. It is not about you’ll be vice president to this or that.”
“Nigerians will know that we are not joking. People take the South for granted, saying that they are not together. No problems. If we didn’t know yesterday, today, we know. We are assets. We are not a liability. When we say we are going to support the party, we support the party with everything we have. We are not in America where you do television campaigns.
“When we come out, we will choke them. They know it. So, everybody should relax, let the south do their homework and then they’ll make a proper statement”, he said, warning that those planning to use the money to overwhelm the internal democracy and buy off the ticket would be so disappointed.
Governor Wike, while criticizing PDP Chieftain, Dr Raymond Dokpesi, currently rooting for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, said; “What is necessary is how the party must be cohesive, to make sure that the party gets it right.”
On Dokpesi’s position specifically, he said; “With all due respect. If we follow the kind of statement that Dokpesi is making every day, by now, the party would have been destroyed. But, we say no.”
Insisting that those urging the PDP to shun zoning of elective offices were being selfish and pursuing personal interests that do not reflect the true spirit of federalism, the Rivers State Chief Executive said; “I stand on Southern Governors Forum decision on zoning. I was at the meeting where it was decided that zoning should come to the South and we took that decision together. I cannot go against that stand.”
He said it would be unfair for the North to have the presidential ticket after producing the party chairman in the person of Senator Iyorcha Ayu, stressing that; “The people in the South are of the view that power should come to the zone in 2023.”
Backing Governor Wike’s position on the South nicking the presidency come 2023, former Federal Commissioner for Information and South-South leader, Chief Edwin Clark urged former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, Sokoto state Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, and other northerners with presidential ambition ahead of 2023 to jettison such idea in the interest of justice and equity.
Clark maintained that zoning the presidency between the North and the South remains the prerequisite for Nigeria’s peace and unity in the country, stressing that it is the turn of the South to produce the next President in 2023 and not the north.
A statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by the elder statesman said zoning, as the best antidote to Nigeria’s break up, has been practised in the nation’s policy even before Independence, when Tafawa Balewa, in 1954, was the Prime Minister, Nnamdi Azikiwe was the Governor-General.
The statement said; “Firstly, I wish to use this medium to advise my most respected Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chieftains in the persons of former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, Governor of Sokoto State, and other PDP aspirants from the north, that in the interest of maintaining the unity of this country to which they have contributed so much, to re-consider their desire of wanting to contest for the Presidential election in 2023, because both by the PDP Constitution and by convention, it is now the turn of Southern Nigeria to produce the President of Nigeria, in 2023, after President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight (8) years.
“To do otherwise is to invite chaos, which will lead to the disintegration of our dear country. Zoning has been practised in the nation’s policy even before Independence, when Tafawa Balewa, in 1954, was the Prime Minister, Nnamdi Azikiwe was the Governor-General. Zoning of political offices, particularly the Presidency of the country, is the best antidote to the breakup of Nigeria, and the panacea for peace and unity of the country.”
Going down memory lane on the principle of rotation dating back to the pre-independence era, the Ijaw leader urged the PDP chieftains from the North with already declared interest to go for the presidency in 2023 to retrace their steps in the spirit of justice and equity, warning that; “It will be disastrous to suppress the rights of other Nigerians without regard for justice, equity and fair play.”
For him, any attempt to use the force of power, population, religion and ethnicity will not be good for the nation’s unity, adding; “In 1999, the zoning pattern was also observed, more so, the country wanted to compensate the Yorubas because of the June 12 incident. That was how Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, from the South, contested the elections with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar from the north as his running mate under the PDP.
“Chief Olu Falae, also from Southern Nigeria, also contested with Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi from the north, as his running mate under the Alliance for Democracy (AD). Zoning was sustained at the end of Chief Obasanjo’s tenure of eight years, giving the Presidency to the North in 2007, whereby Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Governor of Katsina State, Northern Nigeria, became the presidential candidate of the PDP and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan from Bayelsa State, Southern Nigeria, became his running mate.
“It is instructive that the nation’s two main parties, the APC and the PDP, have been religiously following the zoning and rotation system between the north and the South. By 2023, the North would have ruled for another eight years.
“It is, therefore, rational and right, to insist that the Presidency should rotate to the south. It does not matter whether the presidency has been produced from the APC or the PDP since 2015. To which sub-region the presidency should be further zoned to in the south, is a different matter entirely.
“At the appropriate time, we will decide as to which area, section or region of the three regions of Southeast, Southsouth, and Southwest, should have it.”
Further arguing that the North “has had the Presidency for about 45 years of our nation’s history as an independent country, including both civilian and military regimes”, Chief Clark posited that there is no going back on southern Nigeria’s Governors forum’s decision on the 2023 presidency.
He said; “The 17 Governors of southern Nigeria, both of the APC and the PDP, under the leadership of Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, Governor of Ondo State, resolved at a meeting in Asaba, Delta State, that the Presidency should rotate to the South in 2023, in keeping with the tradition of zoning.
“The South and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, under my leadership, has held two important meetings to support the resolution of the 17 Governors of the Southern Nigeria, that presidency of the country, should rotate to the south.”
In his submission last week, the Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed said the party would field a candidate from the North in 2023 because the president produced by the PDP, Goodluck Jonathan, was a Southerner.
Governor Mohammed noted that rotation of presidential office is for the All Progressives Congress (APC) because President Muhammadu Buhari is a northerner.
So far, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Governors Yayaha Bello of Kogi state, Bala Mohammed of Bauchi, and Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, former Senate President Bukola Saraki, all from the North, have indicated interest to contest for President on PDP platform.
