VON DG: Blame PDP if zoning of presidency to south fails

Osita Okechukwu, director-general of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), says Nigerians should hold the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) responsible if the presidency is not zoned to the south in 2023.

Okechukwu was reacting to speculations regarding if the All Progressives Congress (APC) will zone its presidential ticket to the south.

Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) had, during the recent Greater Nigeria Conference (GNC) held in Abuja, accused APC of playing hanky-panky on zoning the presidential ticket.

Speaking with journalists on Monday, Okechukwu said the APC has to fine-tune its strategies for the general election before taking a decision.

“Although one is not holding the brief of our distinguished national chairman, senator Abdullahi Adamu, one’s little understanding is that the leadership of our great party is watching closely the desperation and antics of our elder sister political party, the PDP,” Okechukwu said.

“They want to capture power by all means, indeed using Machiavellian tactics. We all know that PDP is famished, thirsty and desperate to win the presidency in 2023. They loathe the loss of their slogan, ‘share the money’, through their absence from power at the centre for seven going to eight years.

“To be frank, my take on the matter is that the swap option is still open, because some of us from the south are still arguing that we have dormant votes, especially Igbo votes which will augment APC members’ votes from the north.

“However, if at the end of the day the zoning fails, we should blame PDP’s desperation, because we have been advocating a repeat of the chiefs Obasanjo/Falae; Yar’Adua/Buhari and Buhari/Atiku models of 1999, 2007 and 2019.”

Speaking further, Okechukwu said it would be selfish if the opposition party fails to zone its presidential ticket.

“PDP is aware that President Buhari will not be on the ballot in 2023. Therefore, for them, there is a void to fill. They must have reasoned that the Buhari’s vote bank would be up for grabs if they go north,” he said.

“PDP’s calculation is a desperate one, and selfish to the extent that they breached their own constitution and their age-long die-hard supporters in the south, especially the south-east.

“As a corollary, APC seems to have adopted the cat-and-mouse game, because if the PDP adopts the terra firma or doctrine of realpolitik, which places electoral victory above their constitution, the moral high ground and ethics of their members and supporters in the south, APC wants to do the pragmatic thing — that is, going back to the drawing board.”

On March 24, the PDP set up a 37-member zoning committee, led by Samuel Ortom, Benue governor, to decide on whether or not to adopt zoning.

The panel has submitted its recommendation to the national executive council (NEC) of the party for further action.

But the party said it is yet to fix a date for its NEC meeting.

Meanwhile, the PDP presidential primary is scheduled for May 28.