PDP Chieftain Demands Southern Presidential Candidate
A former Aviation Minister and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Osita Chidoka, has said the party is having difficulty zoning the presidency to any region.
Chidoka stated this during his appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today. In his opinion, he noted that the party should field a southerner from the eastern region for the presidency in the coming polls.
The party chieftain, however, revealed that the PDP is between two complex options – either to struggle to clinch power or embrace zoning to the detriment of winning the polls.
“PDP is in a kind of dilemma. Do we struggle to win power first or continue our zoning as we have done, or do we continue with the zoning even if that candidate may or may not win the election?
“First of all, the Igbo people will have to bring out a candidate that can convince Nigerians because Nigerians are not a party to this internal party zoning structures,” he said:
Chidoka stressed that if the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), field south-east candidates, Nigerians would be left with the option of voting the best candidate that will deliver the dividends of democracy to them.
When asked if the PDP has lost hope of a candidate from Igbo to succeed in the race, Chidoka neither confirmed nor denied. He, however, said Nigerians should look beyond their ethnic identities and consider the national interest.
It is worthy to note that the 17 governors from the south have demanded that the region produce Buhari’s successor, but its northern counterparts have warned that the zoning formula will not threaten it.
Some northern governors have called on political parties to field a southerner candidate for president, but Governor Bala Mohammed (PDP Bauchi) has said that the PDP to field a northern candidate.
