Zoning: Still PDP’s albatross?

As some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders demand a level-playing field among presidential hopefuls in the party, KUNLE ODEREMI writes on the arguments of the agitators and the trajectory of the leading opposition party on zoning of elective offices.

The birth of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998 was another watershed in the annals of the country. It brought under one roof many distinguished professionals and personalities cutting across the geopolitical space of the country.

The forming of the party was the culmination of intense and high-level consultations, discussions and compromise by the stakeholders to evolve and promote a pan-Nigerian movement. That desire, mission and vision concretised over time, until some forces within the fold began to throw spanner into the works of the PDP.

A privileged few among its power brokers incrementally mismanaged the opportunities and chances the party enjoyed to the maximum, such that the centre could no longer hold. This led to the big fall of the PDP in the last general election, despite what was perceived as a veritable opportunity for the party to bounce back to reckoning and power. The process of choosing a standard bearer for the 2023 presidential election became acrimonious and left the party prostrate.

Electoral Act and 1999 Constitution

The 102nd National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP held in August was seen by many party loyalists and sympathizers as representing the harbinger of a new dawn after the protracted feud. However, the vestiges of the zoning conundrum subsist after the NEC.

Agitations against the ceding of the PDP presidential ticket to the southern part of the country rage in spite of the many critical issues and processes that must be carried out before the PDP convention scheduled for Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, from November 15 to 17. Is there room for further compromise and undertaking on zoning? To what extent are the interests within the PDP willing to listen to the agitators? These and many other teasers are being raised by some concerned stakeholders as the party is set to produce new zonal executives.

Nigeria’s Electoral Act of 2022 and the amended Constitution provided provisions that could support internal party democracy. The 2022 Electoral Act mandated primaries for aspirants to all elective positions and outlined three methods for selecting party standard bearers, emphasizing popular participation (Section 84).

The 1999 Constitution, in Section 14, introduced the federal character principle to create a sense of unity and inclusivity in government institutions. These legal and constitutional instruments form the fulcrum and basis for those opposing the ceding of the presidential ticket of PDP to the three geopolitical zones in the South. Their demand is that the decision of the party flouts certain fundamental provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.

Incidentally, the agitation against the decision is not only in the North; it has spread across the six geopolitical zones in the country, with PDP faithful calling for an open contest instead of shutting the door against presidential hopefuls from other areas. Many of the agitators have made strong case for the North-Central to be allowed to produce PDP’s candidate for the 2027 presidential poll.

For instance, stakeholders under the Gbenga Hashim Solidarity Movement (GHSM) described the action as a constitutional and strategic blunder, with grave implications for PDP at the general election. Its national coordinator, Abdulrazaq Hamzat, said the movement believes that the PDP NEC lacks the legal authority to restrict elective offices to any region under the 1999 Constitution (as amended), coupled with PDP Constitution.

Hamzat premised his standpoint on Section 42(1) of the Nigerian Constitution, which forbids any form of discrimination against citizens on grounds of ethnic group, place of origin, religion, sex, or political opinion. He further referenced Section 7(2)(c) of the PDP Constitution, which affirms that the party shall “conform to the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Other critics of the zoning policy of the PDP recalled the scenario that played in the PDP in the buildup to the 1999 general election. The party literally threw open its presidential ticket, thus the calibre and pedigree of politicians that battled for the ticket. These included Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (South West), Dr. Alex Ekwueme (South East), Chief Jim Nwobodo (South East), Alhaji Abubakar Rimi (North West) and Dr. Francis Ellah (South-South).

“In that election, every aspirant exercised their democratic rights, and Nigerians expressed their sentiments through legitimate votes, not through exclusion,” Hamzat recalled. He also noted that in 2003, despite being the sitting president, Obasanjo was not handed an automatic ticket, as he had to contend with other prominent politicians, including Chief Barnabas Gemade (North Central) and Alhaji Abubakar Rimi (North West).

In the opinion of some stakeholders, the defeat of the PDP in the 2015 general election was largely due to the zoning debacle. According to them, the party equally allowed the costly mistake to repeat itself in the 2019 and 2023 elections, which provoked a major rebellion that saw five northern governors and several key stakeholders walk out of the convention in protest.

Hamzat says he is convinced that, “History has shown us that whenever the PDP abandons its democratic tradition of open contests, it pays a heavy price. The zoning of the 2027 presidential ticket is, therefore, not just an error but a dangerous miscalculation.”

Burgeoning hurricane

Similar agitations have reechoed among PDP members in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. At a meeting attended by more than 170 critical stakeholders of the party from various area councils, they vehemently spoke against the bid to deny other zones the right to seek PDP’s ticket as allowed by the constitution of the country.

The stakeholders included local government ward chairmen, council chairmanship candidates, councillorship candidates, executive chairmen, secretaries of Area Councils, to name a few party faithful in the FCT PDP. They vowed to resist any attempt to bar their preferred candidate from the North-Central from seeking the ticket in the name of fairness and inclusivity.

In turns, speakers at the meeting declared that it was time the North-Central produced Nigeria’s civilian president, as the people were tired of playing the subordinate role in national politics. A stalwart of PDP at the gathering, Honourable Soko Dobo, unequivocally declared that the North-Central was fully behind Olawepo-Hashim and that the people would rally delegates nationwide in his favour.

“The PDP national chairman himself once said zoning does not mean others cannot contest. We in the North-Central are fully behind Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim,” Dobo said.

Concerned stakeholders

At the moment, there is disquiet in the South-South and the South-East over the issue of micro-zoning. This is in spite of a directive given by the PDP top hierarchy to all stakeholders across all the six geopolitical zones to preserve the status quo ante.

One of the tendencies in the party has already reconfigured the structures of the zonal executives in the South. But for Dr. Hashim Gbenga-Olawepo, the raging battle against zoning by PDP faithful across the board is not about him but informed by the need to preserve the vision of the founding fathers of PDP, who championed inclusivity, promoted open contest and abhorred all forms of discrimination.

He has promised to keep the flame glowing based on the principles of democratic ethos and values, as well as constructive engagement and dialogue.

“I have no intention of backing down. No party can close its doors to any Nigerian’s aspiration. The North-Central has never produced a President or Vice President, and it will be unfair to deny us the chance now,” he said.

The agitation has also resonated with PDP leaders in the South-West. They are against the move to shut the door against other zones interested in having one of their own as the candidate of PDP for the presidency. The party men and women are not impressed by the action of some individuals to legitimize the attempt to deny others from asserting their fundamental rights and freedom to determine who and where the president of the country comes from in the next dispensation.

Therefore, the leaders of the PDP stakeholders in the South-West have become part of the assemblage of party bigwigs leading the advocacy for a level-playing field for PDP’s ticket. Rising from a strategic meeting held in Lagos, the leaders and delegates drawn from Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo, Ogun and Lagos states faulted the “unconstitutional zoning error” on the presidency by the party.

The South-West coordinator of the group, Alhaji Abass Olaniyi from Osun State, underlined competence, inclusiveness, and national development, rather than sectional considerations, if PDP must get it right in the choice of candidate through due process.

“Nigerians are ready for a truly ideological presidency, not the politics of ethnicity and sectional manipulation,” Olaniyi declared.

Similarly, there is a groundswell of opposition in the North-West to the zoning formula that is generating ripples in other political circles. The leader of PDP caucus in the zone, Honourable Aminu Bala Wudilawa, said he and other party faithful argue it violates the Electoral Act and the Nigerian Constitution.

Wudilawa described the zoning adopted by NEC of PDP as “null and void” because Section 84(3) of the Electoral Act explicitly states that no political party can impose additional conditions on aspirants beyond what is provided for in the constitution.

“Zoning has no legal basis; it is at best a gentleman’s agreement. The constitution guarantees every qualified Nigerian the right to aspire to any office, and PDP cannot take that away,” he stated.

Wudilawa called for a level-playing field recalling that Damagum told the BBC Hausa Service that the NEC resolution would not bar any northerner from contesting the presidency.

“We are calling on all interested northerners not to be discouraged. The contest should be open, democratic and fair. The PDP belongs to all Nigerians, not a section of the country,” he said.

The Christian Youth Alliance Group (CYAG), Kwara State Chapter, has equally underscored integrity, courage, vision, and competence as being pivotal in the quest to reposition Nigeria. It wants PDP to ensure fairness, equity, and justice in the selection process instead of prioritising zoning ahead of the 2027 elections.

“The PDP must demonstrate that it is truly a party for all Nigerians by giving equal opportunities to every aspirant, irrespective of where they come from or which bloc they belong to. What our country needs in a time like this is not favoritism or zoning politics, but quality representation that can deliver results for the people,” Kayode Ojo stated in the statement by CYAG.

The gathering storm over the zoning conundrum has also spread to the North-Central. Many PDP faithful hit the streets in Jos, the Plateau State capital, demanding an all-inclusive contest. They objected to the party’s zoning arrangement ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Comprising supporters from the six North-Central states of Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, and Plateau, they stormed the major streets of Jos chanting solidarity songs, waving banners, and displaying placards with such inscriptions as “Zoning is Injustice,” “North-Central Must Be Heard,” and “Hashim 2027: A New Hope.”

Their leaders submitted a petition at the Plateau PDP secretariat, rejecting the party’s decision to zone its presidential ticket to the South. They opined that the action amounted to a betrayal of equity and fairness, arguing that the North-Central, despite being a stabilizing bloc in Nigeria’s politics, has never produced a president or vice president since the return to democracy in 1999.

They called on the PDP leadership to reconsider the zoning formula ahead of the party’s national convention in Ibadan. “The North-Central region has a rich history of producing leaders who shaped the nation’s trajectory. We cannot allow this unjust denial at such a critical moment,” the groups added.

Dream of PDP founding fathers

Before his death, one of the PDP founding fathers, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, said the dream of he and others who birthed the party was still alive when he saw the calibre of chieftains, among them, former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, that were in the presidential campaign team of Professor Tunde Adeniran.

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According to Ciroma, the vision of Nigeria’s founding fathers was built on the principle of unity in diversity. The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) affirmed Adeniran as a man that could be trusted because of his pedigree, track record of discipline, integrity and loyalty to the course of the party and Nigeria at large.

“With what I see today, it is very clear that the dream of the founding fathers of the PDP is very much alive, and that means there is hope for our party and Nigeria as a whole,” Ciroma said.

Indeed, PDP may still have many rivers to cross as it tries to rediscover its winning streaks.