Ahead of the May 21 national convention
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the party’s stakeholders are
considering zoning the national chairmanship seat to either the North
West or the South West geo-political zones, THISDAY has learnt.
Before the latest move, the National
Chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, appeared set to achieve
his quest for the retention of his position at the convention. The
former Borno governor’s bid to retain the position was buoyed by the
support from some of the party’s governors, particularly Bayelsa
Governor Serieke Dickson and his Ondo State counterpart, Dr. Olusegun
Mimiko, who is also the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum.
However, following an avalanche of
opposition from party stakeholders who remained vehemently against the
continuation of Sheriff in office beyond May, the party was forced to
direct the zoning committee to reconsider its earlier proposal to zone
the chairmanship seat to North East.
PDP had directed its committee on zoning
of party national offices, headed by Akwa Ibom State Governor Emmanuel
Udom, to work out an acceptable zoning arrangement.
The committee met last Monday night at
Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja and the meeting was attended by most of the
party’s governors, though the two northern PDP governors – Ibrahim
Dakwambo (Gombe) and Darius Ishaku (Taraba) – were absent.
A sharing arrangement of party offices
between the North and the South recently proposed by the Zoning
committee had created misgivings within the party as various regional
tendencies scramble for key positions. The zoning arrangement which was
worked out at a meeting last Tuesday in Uyo gave the national
chairmanship to the North, while national deputy chairman slot was zoned
to the South. It also gave the national secretary slot to the North,
while deputy national secretary position was given to the South.
“It has not be adopted and some people
have already faulted it saying that the North cannot have both national
chairmanship and secretary slots at the same time,” a source told
THISDAY, adding, “the agitation against the arrangement was also
heightened by other permutations.”
The zoning committee of the party has
fixed another meeting for next week in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State in its
attempt to resolve the crisis generated by the zoning arrangement it
proposed.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary,
Chief Olisa Metuh, disclosed in a statement that said no date had been
fixed for the meeting.
He said that the governors and National
Assembly members were holding consultations to ensure that the committee
arrives at a zoning arrangement that will be acceptable and beneficial
to all the six geopolitical zones.
The move to zone the party chairmanship
to the North West or South West, THISDAY gathered, was part of the
strategy to keep Sherriff out of the race.
By this strategy, the anti Sheriff
elements within the party believe that they would have succeeded in
zoning the position out the reach of the former Borno State governor and
give the party the opportunity to pick someone from President Muhammadu
Buhari’s Northwest geopolitical who will try to whittle down the
President’s support base ahead of 2019 general elections.
Sherriff who until recently enjoyed the
backing of governors within the party was said have clinched the
chairmanship position after the exit of acting national chairman, Chief
Uche Secondus, because of his massive wealth and the belief that he
would be able fund party activities from his personal resources. But the
image crisis he suffers following the controversy surrounding his
tenure as governor during which the deadly Boko Haram sect came to
national consciousness and the growing opposition to his chairmanship by
other key stakeholders in the party forced the governors to have a
rethink about their support for his candidacy.
Ondo and Bayelsa governors are now among
those leading the campaign against Sheriff’s bid to retain his
position, said the party source.
“For now, many party stakeholders do not
believe that Sheriff is the right person for the job and once we have
these kind of forces uniting against the leadership, they will likely
yield to reason. Governors of Ondo and Bayelsa States as well as most of
the PDP members in the National Assembly are presently against Sheriff
as an option,” the source said.
The source further said the reason most
of the governors kept quiet on the matter for so long was because they
did not want a situation where their opposition to Sherriff’s aspiration
would threaten their grip on party structures in their respective
states.
Sherriff is however not oblivious of
this development as he has adjusted the timetable for the party
congresses to hold very close to the national convention so as not to
provide opportunity for the governors to move against him.
A highly reliable party source told
THISDAY that among those being tipped to take up the chairmanship seat
is the former governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau.
Shekarau, a former presidential
candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), is believed to
possess the right kind of leadership qualities and political experience
that could help PDP in future electoral contest.
The source noted that, “plans are on to
get the North West to produce the chairman of the party, and Shekarau is
being seriously considered because the governors see him as one of
their own having served as governor of Kano state.
“He is also perceived as an orator
compared to Sheriff who may not be able to electrify a campaign rally or
market the party effectively when the time comes.”
Another option being considered by
stakeholders, THISDAY gathered, is to zone the chairmanship slot to the
South West, which has the second largest population among the zones but
has yet to produce a national chairman for the party since its
formation. The consideration of the South West for the chairmanship is
also based on the argument by some stakeholders that since the
presidential candidate would come from the North, the South West should
have the chairmanship slot. The South West which played the role of
game-changer in the last two presidential elections is considered a good
option.
THISDAY
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