Some Lagos PDP leaders and supporters of Dr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim’s presidential ambition say the party’s decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South would affect its chances in the election.
Correspondents report that the party’s decision has triggered mixed reactions among PDP stakeholders.
A northern aspirant, Olawepo-Hashim, has vowed to challenge the move at the party’s national convention.
He argued that zoning the presidential ticket to either the North or South was unlawful and undemocratic, stressing that it would not benefit the party.
Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday in Lagos, Mr Ola Azeez, State Coordinator of the Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim (GOH) Solidarity Movement, said “the party is in the path of self-defeat again with the zoning.”
According to him, suppressing the ambition of others will breed misgivings within the party, capable of disrupting the unity that is gradually being restored.
*“The zoning issue is causing problems within the party already. This zoning arrangement must be revisited.
“What we should know is that zoning is not in the PDP constitution. We must not allow it to ruin our chances again.
“Let us win presidential election first before we talk about zoning arrangement of offices and other sharing formula for elective and party positions.
“We must open the ticket of the party to all aspirants so as not to cause another mass exodus from the party, just because we are not making our ticket competitive and a fair contest.
“We respect our national leaders and representatives at the national level, but that does not mean they should impose their ideas of exclusion on us,”* Azeez said.
He recalled that during the PDP’s 16 years in power, the South held the presidency for over 14 years, while the North had only two years, despite contributing most of the votes.
*“If the PDP allows the zoning of presidential ticket to the South to stand, that means we are shutting out the North and this is dangerous.
“Why shut them out? That is unfair. The party presidential ticket should be thrown open, let the members and delegates decide who they want.
“It is very dangerous for the party to shut out 19 states of the country from participating in the presidential election,”* Azeez, who is also PDP Vice Chairman in Ojo Local Government, added.
He argued that if aspirants like Olawepo-Hashim were excluded, the party would suffer for it, especially in the North.
According to him, Olawepo-Hashim represents a bridge between North and South, being from Kwara in the North-Central, with his mother from Oyo State in the South-West, describing him as the best option for PDP in 2027.
*“The best presidential candidate PDP can throw up today is Olawepo-Hashim. He is young, he is intelligent, he is an expert in the mainstay of the economy of Nigeria, which is oil.
“Olawepo-Hashim is a technocrat, a specialist in petroleum engineering, petroleum economics and petroleum politics. We need such a person to come here and revive this country,”* he said.
Calling on PDP leadership to revisit the zoning plan before the convention, Azeez stressed that the party should uphold its claim to being democratic.
He described the zoning decision as non-inclusive, unpopular, undemocratic and detrimental to the party’s unity.
Corroborating, Mrs Toyin Owolabi, State Woman Leader of the support group, urged PDP national leadership to reconsider the implication of shutting out aspirants from the presidential primary.
(NAN)