The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has said that zoning the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party to the North will fail.
Wike stated this during a media chat on Monday.
He explained that it would not be smart for the opposition party to zone its presidential ticket to the North in 2027 if the ruling All Progressives Congress’ presidential candidate would come from the South.
The minister said, “Why not, as a party, come out openly now (and say) our presidential candidate will also come from the South? You don’t want to do that; you want to play the same game you played in 2023. It will backfire, and when it backfires, you will say these people did this, these people did that.
“I have told people: this smartness will not help you. Come out now and let everybody know this is where we are heading. This is not the time to send the presidency to the North. No.”
He added, “The point is that selfishness can kill a system. If Mr President runs, for example, and wins in 2027, by 2031, the APC will zone their presidential ticket to the North. The PDP will do what then?
“Then you’ll come back and say, since the APC has zoned it to the North, let’s keep it in the North. What kind of smartness is that?”
The former governor of Rivers State, while speaking about the outcome of the 2023 presidential election, said that the party’s system was manipulated for selfish interest.
“In 2023, we told the party, ‘Look, it is in our constitution, when a zone produces the chairman, another zone produces the presidential candidate’.
“Because of their selfish interest, they manipulated the system. They said we shouldn’t do zoning now. Before we knew (it), some people had gone to buy the form,” he added.
On the recent defection of some members of the party, including the Governor of Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori, to the APC, Wike said, “How many times have they (PDP leaders) made efforts? How many people have they wooed? Rather, every day, you’re after one man; every day, you’re after Wike.”
The PDP has been entangled in an internal crisis that began with the disagreement over the zoning of its presidential ticket in 2023 and worsened with the recent defection of the Delta governor, members of the state House of Assembly, and some federal lawmakers.
Worried by the situation, the serving PDP governors and other leaders of the party met at the Abuja lodge of the Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Muhammed, on Sunday night, and set up a committee chaired by a former senate president, Bukola Saraki, to reconcile aggrieved members.
