Zoning, the byword in Nigeria’s unsettled and unsettling political environment, is not about to go to sleep. If anything, it is reverberating by the day. At every level of our political arrangement, zoning has become such a constant variable that it is beginning to assume a life of its own. However, we will not be dealing with the finer details of this phenomenon here. We will rather allow future developments to put the matter to rest. For now, let us pay some more attention to the outcry of some members of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) on the issue.
Why are some northern elements within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and even outside of it, shouting their voices hoarse over the party’s decision to zone the presidency to the south in 2027? I hear that the dissenters led by Olawepo Hashim have described the action as unconstitutional. They say it violates both the constitution of Nigeria and that of the party itself. They want the party’s ticket to be thrown open so that interested northerners can use it to vie for the presidency in 2027.
That is the issue before us. But my worry is that those kicking against PDP’s zoning arrangement do not appear to be conversant with the goings-on in Nigeria’s political space. They are speaking as if they have just descended from the Red Planet. The protestations seem to give the impression that the PDP presidential ticket is now permanently domiciled in the north since Goodluck Jonathan, a southerner, last used it in 2015.
For the naysayers who appear to be very ignorant of the journey of the PDP since Jonathan left off ten years ago, a little reminder will suffice. When Jonathan threw away power in 2015 with PDP’s ticket in his kitty, the party, even before the inauguration of the new opposition president, publicly announced that it has zoned the 2019 presidency to the north. That was without regard to the region that had just lost the presidency in circumstances that were less than legitimate. It was also without regard to President Jonathan who could possibly consider taking another shot at the presidency in 2019 to complete his constitutionally guaranteed second term in office. However , when 2019 came, Atiku Abubakar, a northerner, picked the ticket and ran for the presidency. There was no whimper from the south. Nobody talked about violation of the country’s constitution or that of the party at that time.
By 2023, the north had completed eight uninterrupted years in office. It was then supposed to be the turn of the south to take over. Unfortunately, those for whom the party existed at that time had a mindset. Zoning the presidency to the south would deny Atiku Abubakar the opportunity to stand for presidential election in 2023. So, to ensure that Atiku was not shut out, the owners of the party threw the presidential ticket open. And, yet again, Atiku Abubakar grabbed the ticket for the 2023 presidential run. But that arrangement was clearly anti-south. It threw the likes of Nyesom Wike, a southerner, into fits and starts. Wike had argued then that the party’s presidential ticket was supposed to be reserved for the south since the north has held it for eight unbroken years. He was right. But he lost the moral authority to advance his position when he started scheming to become Atiku’s running mate. With that self-serving move, Wike left everyone with the impression that the reason he was opposed to a northern presidential candidate was because of his narrow selfish interest. If his interest was accommodated as a running, then it would be proper for the north to confiscate and retain the party’s presidential ticket. After all the brouhaha that attended the northern scheme against the south, the north had its way. The south licked its wounds. No issue was made of constitutional violation, be it that of Nigeria or the party.
Now, the next election year is approaching and it is still the turn of the south to hold the office of the president. But some northerners are up in arms against the PDP for zoning its presidential ticket to the south. They want the ticket to be thrown open so that interested northerners can use the platform to advance their presidential ambition. If a northerner grabs PDP’s presidential ticket in 2027 as is likely to happen if the ticket is thrown open, the PDP would have become the permanent property of the north.
But let us pause for a moment and consider this: why is it that the north does not respect zoning whenever a southerner is occupying the presidency? This question needs to be addressed especially given the fact that the south does not interject or intrude whenever the north is holding forte at the presidency. For the eight years that Muhammadu Buhari was in office, the south held its cool. No southerner sought to topple him. On the contrary, Jonathan’s presidential run in 2011 had a northerner in Buhari as his main challenger. The same thing was true of 2015 when Buhari succeeded in edging out Jonathan. Now, the south is in the saddle again and the north is still plotting to truncate the eight- year turn of the south. That is the irony of presidential zoning in Nigeria. Zoning works when the north is in power but is mindlessly thrown overboard when it is the turn of the south.
Regardless of this, we cannot but ask: Is the PDP still a viable platform for the contest of elections? Why worry about a political party that is, more or less, the personal property of an outsider who has taken every practical step to undermine and destroy the party?
Following the damage that the 2023 zoning mishap inflicted on PDP, Wike turned into a full scale renegade. Since then, he has stopped at nothing to ensure that the party goes under. And he has largely succeeded. The party has long been dead. Wike’s onslaught sent it to the gallows. Before the Wike assault, we always knew that political parties had the power to discipline erring members. There was something called anti-party activity. Watchers of the drag-out fight in the party are aware of how Wike, while serving a rival political party, still insisted on retaining his membership of the PDP. The party which is now disturbing us about zoning was powerless before Wike. It could not rein in its former presidential aspiration. As I write, Wike is still a member of the PDP while serving in an opposing administration. This is rebellion of the first order. How will this party make progress under Wike’s vice grip?
For those who know where Wike’s interest lies in 2027, a PDP presidential candidate with Wike as member of the party will be no more than a decoy. The candidate may just be decorated as one of Bola Tinubu’s challengers in 2027 but may, in truth, be a mole planted in the party to give Tinubu an edge over other contestants. PDP has to be a proper party with mechanisms for internal discipline before it can convince Nigerians that it is ready for the battle ahead. Right now, Nigerians strongly suspect that the party, with Wike as its chief driver, is up to some mischief. Nigerians do not want to be led by the nose in this matter.
QUOTE:
“A PDP presidential candidate with Wike as member of the party will be no more than a decoy. The candidate may just be decorated as one of Bola Tinubu’s challengers in 2027 but may, in truth, be a mole planted in the party to give Tinubu an edge over other contestants”.
