APC in dilemma over zoning of the 2023 presidency, may throw race open

There are strong indications that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is in a dilemma over the zoning of the 2023 presidency.

According to the report gathered on Sunday, there was a strong possibility that it could still throw the presidential race open for both northern and southern aspirants.

A top leader of the APC, who confided in one of our correspondents, said the party was still considering options that could make it retain the presidency in 2023.

The party leader said, “Although from all indications, the next chairman will come from the North, that will not stop interested northerners from vying for the APC presidential ticket. We have competent aspirants in the North and the South. We have not made up our minds, but we will go for the best, who will help us retain the presidency in 2023.”

Also, an APC leader from the North stated all options were still on the table for the party.

The party leader stated, “If the chairman and the President come from the North, the worst the party can do is to give the chairman a political appointment and allow his deputy, who will be a southerner to step in. Also, we can retain the present arrangement by retaining a northern chairman and picking our presidential candidate from the south.”

It was, however, learnt that chieftains of the APC, who were pushing for a president from the South were insisting that the party could not turn around to zone Presidency to the North after the same region had produced the chairman of the party.

It was gathered the party’s National Executive Committee would meet on the issue after the February 26 national convention.

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“We are studying what is going on in the PDP, but NEC will meet after the national convention and decide the best option,” a national officer of the party said on condition of anonymity.

Efforts to get the National Secretary of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Senator James Akpanudoedehe’s comment on the issue, on Sunday did not succeed as he did not pick calls to his phone nor responded to an SMS sent to him.

But Akpanudoedehe had two weeks ago said the party had yet to take a position on zoning.

Commenting on the issue, the pan-northern socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) said it was not interested in which section of the country, north or south, produced the presidency in 2023.

The National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Emmanuel Yawe, who stated this in a chat with one of our correspondents in Kaduna, wondered if the socio-cultural organisations dictating that the 2023 presidency must come from a section of the country knew what they were doing.

The spokesman noted that the northern body would allow the rule of law to prevail by allowing the political parties to carry out their responsibility as enshrined in the constitution.

He said, “We have said it again and again that we are not interested or going to show interest in which section in of the country produces the president  – north or south – we accept all.

“The constitution assigns the responsibility of choosing candidates – presidential candidates included – to the parties. It is an exclusive responsibility.”

“Those socio-cultural organisations going all over Nigeria dictating where presidential candidates must come from know what they are doing, we hope.”

Meanwhile, the APC has yet to inform the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of its planned national convention even as activities leading up to its convention begin this week.

The Electoral Act states that any political party planning to hold its national convention must inform INEC at least 21 days prior to its national convention.

The APC fixed its national convention for February 26, meaning the deadline for it to inform INEC lapses on Saturday, February 5, 2021.

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