2023 and the unacceptable position of south-east PDP caucus on zoning

The curious position of the south-east PDP caucus on zoning is simply unacceptable. That position has simply thrown the south-east under the bus; it has left the zone very vulnerable and weakly positioned to pursue the PDP presidential ticket compared to the other zones that are fighting to secure it for their respective zones.

When ILDF got the wind days ago that this was what was loading, the leadership of our organisation (ILDF),  had to submit a memo to the PDP 37-member special committee on zoning, insisting that the PDP should zone its 2023 presidential ticket to the south-east, and not to the south. We submitted a separate memo to the south-east PDP zonal caucus and addressed a national press conference on the same subject matter to drive home the position.

Curiously, while other zonal PDP caucuses notably the south-south PDP caucus led by Governor Nyesom Wike, are insisting that the PDP presidential ticket be zoned to the zones, the south-east PDP caucus is insisting that the ticket be zoned to the entire south. This strange position of the south-east PDP means that the party’s presidential ticket will be open to all southerners in the PDP, despite the fact that the south-west has produced a president and vice for 16 years in the last two decades; and the south-south has equally produced the president for six years and a vice president for two years within the same period. The refusal of the south-east PDP caucus to defend and fight for the south-east as the only zone in the south yet to produce the president for the country is something ILDF will fully interrogate in days to come. Save to state in the interim that their argument for the entire south has weakened the position of the south-east more than anything. ILDF therefore rejects and condemns in the strongest of terms.

For the avoidance of doubt, Igbo Leadership Development Foundation (ILDF) is pan-Igbo foundation promoting the emergence of a Nigerian president of south-east extraction in the 2023 general elections. The simple reason is that the south-east is the only geopolitical zone in southern Nigeria that has not produced a president for the country in the present democratic dispensation, albeit, since the end of the civil war in 1970.

It will be recalled that the Igbo Leadership Development Foundation, in its pursuit of peace and national unity, organised a national conversation – The Great Debate for National Unity, which focused on federal character, restructuring and rotation of presidential power in Nigeria. That historic event was held on March 5, 2020, at Sheraton Hotel Abuja. The 2nd national conversation, which ILDF specifically organised for the president of south-east extraction held in May 2021, at NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja.  We will continue to preach unity, equity, and fairness in the relationships among ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, including the fundamental need for rotation of presidential power in Nigeria’s polity.

ILDF is aware that, due to the structural imbalances and inequity inherent in the Nigerian polity, the rotation and zoning principle was written into the PDP’s constitution in 2009. Article 7(2c) of the PDP constitution states that: “In pursuance of the principle of equity, justice and fairness, the party shall adhere to the policy of rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices, and it shall be enforced by the appropriate executive committee at all levels”. In its wisdom and patriotic zeal, the PDP has allowed power to rotate between geopolitical zones in the north and south and made it both a manifesto and a constitutional matter. What this means is that going by the party constitution, the subsisting principle of rotation leaves PDP with no choice but to zone the presidency in 2023 to the appropriate geopolitical zone, unless it amends its constitution. It is also important to note that the PDP manifesto, as archived by INEC on their website in 2019, stipulates the rotation of power as a principle that must be followed by the party and therefore the principle is actionable, justiciable and enforceable since it derives from the party constitution.

Again, the structural imbalances in Nigeria have made federal character and rotation of presidential power inevitable. Section 14(3) of the 1999 constitution (as amended) states: “The composition of the government of the federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies”.

Kindly note that owing to the indivisibility of the office of the president of Nigeria, the only way the federal character principle will apply to the office of the president as a political office referred to in the constitution is by rotating it. And this has been the practice since 1999 but now that it is the turn of the south-east to benefit from it, some PDP leaders want to change it. That is tantamount to changing the goalpost in the middle of the game.

It is important to remind such PDP leaders that when Goodluck Jonathan repudiated zoning to run in 2015 regardless of the PDP constitution barring him, his action sparked an implosion in the PDP. He won the party’s primaries unopposed but lost the presidential election mainly due to protest votes, as the splinter group – the nPDP – made up of five governors and others left the party and joined forces with other legacy political blocks to form the APC to wrestle power from the PDP.

Is history not about repeating itself? Those who fail to learn from history are said to be condemned to repeat the class. There will be consequences. The south-east would very likely vote against the PDP in protest if denied the presidential ticket of the party. This is not an idle threat. The south-east is a PDP zone and should be treated respectfully.

ILDF believes that, in line with the express provision of the PDP constitution, since power has resided in the north for two straight terms it has to move specifically to the south-east, in the spirit of rotation and zoning, which has been the practice since 1999.

ILDF believes that zoning power to the south-east is a matter of justice and equity and not a matter of mere political gamesmanship. History tells us that the PDP should zone its presidential ticket to the south-east, not to the south in general because, in 1999, presidential power was zoned to a geopolitical zone in recognition of the justice of remedying the annulment of the presidential election in 1993. The founders of PDP zoned it specifically to the south-west, not to the south in general. To buttress that it was micro-zoned to the south-west. Both Alex Ekwueme and Olusegun Obasanjo were from southern Nigeria. But it was zoned straight to the south-west. Similarly, APP stepped down Ogbonnaya Onu who won its primary election in place of Olu Falae, from the south-west because of the need to have only candidates from the south-west contest the election. AD had to deny Ezeife its mandate to accommodate Olu Falae as a candidate in its merger with APP, in the spirit of zoning to the south-west to address the June 12 injustice.

The implication of the argument above is that the PDP ought to follow its constitution and zone its presidential ticket to the south-east as recognition that it is the only part of the south that has not held presidential power since 1999. To zone to the south as a whole without micro-zoning to the south-east is a plot to deny the people of south-east justice and fairness, it is to betray the principle of zoning as applied to the south-west in 1999.

As a matter of justice and equity, we expect that PDP leaders in other geopolitical zones in the south should all support that the 2023 PDP presidential candidacy should be directly zoned to the south-east as a matter of justice and good faith, in order to preserve the unity and integrity of the PDP. We request the 37 members of the PDP special committee on zoning to find the courage to recommend the presidency to the south-east zone.

Such party leaders surreptitiously pushing for the jettisoning of zoning and rotation of presidential seat when their zones have filled the office based on the same principle, are promoting injustice in an unhealthy and ungentlemanly equivocation, which gives the impression that the south-east does not matter or have any valid stake in the PDP or in Nigeria.

ILDF does not need to warn that there will be consequences if our efforts at promoting peace and unity in Nigeria through dialogue are sabotaged. This is not a threat but a natural response from an injured zone that has shown the greatest commitment and fidelity to the PDP as a political party since its inception.

We wish to seize this opportunity to thank the growing number of patriotic citizens from all parts of the country who have thrown their weight behind the push for the emergence of a Nigerian president of south-east extraction.

We in ILDF reassured the PDP of block votes and crowdfunding in support of any south-eastern man or woman they chose who has integrity, competence and national acceptability. Such a south-eastern candidate will surely bring Nigeria out of the woods by putting to rest the ghost of Biafra and taking the country to the next level. Nigerians will once more experience unity, peace, growth and development. Together we shall make Nigeria great again and usher in a country where no section will ever feel left behind again.

Mefor, an Abuja based forensic/social psychologist and author, is the director of public affairs, Igbo Leadership Development Foundation (ILDF). He can be reached via [email protected]; +234-9056424375; or on Twitter @LawMefor1