AS the 44-member zoning committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, led by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State begins sitting today, leaders of the party in the South-West have intensified their bid to produce the next national chairman of the party.

PDP leaders in the six South-West states, Vanguard gathered, have sent a strong message to the leadership of the party on the need to zone the national chairmanship to the zone in the October 31 national convention.

Since the inception of the party in 1998 the South-West has not produced the national chairman. The highest it has gone is deputy national chairman, until last week when it produced acting national chairman following the suspension of Prince Uche Secondus.

As it is, the Ugwuanyi committee, which was inaugurated on September 9 with Zamfara State Deputy Governor, Mohammed Mahdi, as secretary has a tough nut to crack over whether the chairman should come from the North or South.

The decision has implications on where the next presidential candidate of the party for the 2023 election will come from.

The South West PDP leaders are arguing that the chairmanship should be specifically zoned to the their zone to compensate for the 2017 ”short-change” when ”it was unjustly denied the slot after the post had been zoned to it.”

According to them, ”robbing” the South-West of the PDP chairmanship in 2017 partly led to the dwindling electoral fortunes of the PDP in the zone in the 2019 and other polls.

They added that apart from Anambra where a governorship election will be held on November 6, 2021, the South-West has two governorship polls in Ekiti and Osun states in 2022 and having the national chairmanship slot will help seal victory in the two states, thereby boosting the chances of the PDP in the 2023 general elections.

The leaders assured they would produce a viable, strong and popular consensus candidate capable of uniting the party and leading it to victory in 2023, if the national chairmanship was zoned to South-West, which currently has has one PDP governor, senators and members of the House of Representatives from four of its six states – Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun.

The leadership of the PDP, on September 9 appointed Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri as chairman of the party’s convention organizing committee with Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde as secretary.

Bayelsa state governor, Duoye Diri was appointed deputy chairman of the convention planning committee while his Benue state counterpart, Samuel Ortom is the deputy chairman of the zoning committee.

North primed to produce PDP presidential candidate

As the Ugwuanyi-led committee begins its tough task, there are indications that a northerner may fly the PDP’s presidential flag in 2023.

Reason: Most of those posturing to grab the ticket are from the North just as the bulk of the national chairmanship candidates come from the South.

Going by the party’s tradition, no region holds the presidential ticket and party chairmanship at the same time. If the North produces the chairman, the presidential flag goes to the South and vice versa. This has been the tradition since 1999.

Incidentally, most of those being tipped to succeed Prince Uche Secondus as national chairman hail from the South. They include former National Secretary of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; former Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George; immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose; two- time Lagos Governorship Candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje; and former Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke among others.

Although there are counter moves to get a northerner to succeed Secondus, which will pave the way for the South to produce the presidential candidate, some top party leaders argue that the PDP stands a better chance of winning the 2023 presidential poll with a northern candidate.