There are indications that the Samuel Ortom-led zoning committee set up by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has to hold a final meeting on Tuesday and submit its report.
Recall that a 37-man committee was set up last month to come up with an acceptable position that would keep the party and its bigwigs united regardless of its stand on zoning.
Newsflash Nigeria learnt that the members of the zoning committee have begun arriving in Abuja and are expected to meet at the Benue State Governor’s Lodge on Tuesday (today).
It was learnt that as of Monday evening, there had been no agreement on the zoning arrangement of the party.
The controversy on whether to zone or not was first mooted when, a few months after the party lost the 2019 presidential election, then Uche-Secondus-led National Working Committee set up a panel chaired by the governor of Bauchi State, Sen. Bala Mohammed to review what went wrong and advise the party on the way forward.
Although that committee recommended that the ticket be thrown open, powerful chieftains of the PDP from the South, particularly Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike, have been clamouring for the zoning of the ticket to the South.
Ahead of the submission of the report by the Governor Samuel Ortom-led zoning Committee, the northern PDP Presidential hopeful on Monday visited Delta and Edo States to seek support for the consensus option rather than zoning the Presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party to the South.
To this end, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, former Senate President Bukola Saraki; and a former Managing Director of FSB International Bank, Alhaji Mohammed Hayatudeen, visited Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa. However, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who is from the North, was not in attendance.
Okowa, while commending the four northern aspirants, said consensus would keep the party united.
“This action that four of you have taken today is actually a step in the right direction. It will strengthen us and pull us together. It is my prayer that God will help you achieve this consensus that you seek to build because, in that consensus, we will be united as a party, which will give a lot of hope to Nigerians, that truly, PDP is working the talk.
“So I truly want to appreciate you for this visit and urge that you work hard towards the building of this consensus and that of the party too,” the governor said.
The aspirants also visited Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State where they sought his support.
Receiving the visitors at the Government House in Benin City, Obaseki said the country was in dire need of a leader with the capacity to unite and rebuild the nation.
He said, “I can’t thank our visitors enough for bringing a new lease of life into our politics. This is a new model in leadership selection where leaders with higher aspirations can come together for the good of the people.
“They are working towards a consensus candidate arrangement knowing the task of becoming Nigeria’s president.”
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Earlier, Saraki, who spoke on behalf of others, said the visit was to canvas for the option to adopt a consensus candidate ahead of the 2023 general elections.
He said, “We all know the various situations that exist in our country and the need for the PDP to provide a platform and in doing that, we realize that the interest of the country is more paramount to our own interests.
“As such, we have come together and agreed that we should work out a consensus where we don’t all just go to the field. We don’t want our energy to be focused on just trying to get to power, but on how to help make Nigeria better.
“We need your support in this process. What Nigerians need now is a president that has a team to work with. The problems are huge and we all have the qualities to lead this country.”
In another PDP presidential group, some southern elements including Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, have insisted that power should shift to the South, several northern Presidential aspirants are pushing for an open race.
Media mogul, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, who is the leader of the technical committee of the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign, said he was confident of Atiku’s emergence regardless of what the PDP decides.
Speaking at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Monday, Dokpesi said, “I am not aware of any internal problems in the PDP. No crisis whatsoever. PDP is one big family we shall all be together as brothers and sisters.
“Definitely, we have nothing against whatever the party will decide, but the zoning will not be against us.”
Meanwhile, the 37-member zoning committee chaired by Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State is slated to hold its third meeting at the PDP national secretariat today.
The committee, which was given a two-week time frame, is expected to submit its recommendations this week.
