By Ife Osemedua
365Daily can authoritatively report that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has finally thrown open the position of the presidency in the 2023 elections to all its members irrespective of geopolitical zones, thereby dashing the hope of its members in the South East, who had hoped that the party would reserve the plum position for the zone.
This crucial party decision was contained in a report presented to stakeholders in Abuja on Wednesday, March 17, 2021.
Recall that 365Daily reported that the party’s Committee on Review of 2019 Election headed by the Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, would submit its report at the national headquarters today, March 17, 2021.
Paragraph 4 of the report read in part, “We think that every Nigerian, from every part of the country, should be given the opportunity to choose the best candidate, through a credible primary election; as a way of institutionalising a merit based leadership recruitment process for the country.”
The South East has been agitating for an opportunity to produce the next president of Nigeria and many believe that the PDP presents a better opportunity to do so, given that the zone is regarded as a PDP domain.
But in spite of the fact that the report seemingly appreciated issues of fairness and equity which underscore the agitation by the South East, it went further to state, “In line with certain unwritten conventions of the nation’s history, many people think that, for fairness and equity, the North East and South East geopolitical zones that have had the shortest stints at the Presidency, should be given special consideration, in chosing the presidential flagbearer of the party, for 2023 elections.
“While we admit that this is a strong argument, we should not lose sight of the fact that Nigeria is endowed with many capable and very experienced leaders in every part of the country.
“Moreover, the exigencies of the moment demand that nothing should be compromised in choosing the leader, with the attributes to disentangle the country from the present quagmire.”