Re: 2023 Presidency; Zoning Widens Gulf In PDP -By Nuhu Agwom

– Zone the PDP Presidential ticket to Female candidacy in 2023— Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies

Ahead of 2023 presidential election, in a report by NewsBreakNG on Feb 6, 2022, it was said that towards 2023 Presidency, “Zoning Widens Gulf In PDP”. Thus, “The quest by top-shots of the leading opposition party to get the presidential ticket zoned to their area has widened the gulf in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Daily Trust on Sunday also reports, “While some PDP governors, especially those of southern extraction and their allies believe the presidential ticket should be left for them, few others from the North and their supporters are of the opinion that the ticket should be left open for the fittest to clinch.

A female presidential aspirant under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prof. Funmilayo Adesanya- Davies, has reacted to all the ripples and the gulf being created to our correspondence, saying, “Zone the PDP presidential ticket to Female candidacy in 2023 for lasting peace to reign.” Adesanya- Davies added, “It’s wise for PDP to just zone the presidency to female as a consensus candidate for 2023.”

She recalls in an article titled, “Nigeria needs a female President” Columnist Olatunji writing from Lagos state on 24th of March, 2021, last year laments that, “Since the past 60years of post-independence in Nigeria from the great Britain, Ours is a country that believes in the superiority of one gender over another, a country that treated a man like a king and assumes that women are flaws and a serpent.”

He asks, “What is superior in men than yelling without proper strategic planning and decisions, men are known for decisions without analysing and making predictable consequences of their actions, men are known for deceptive tales of all kinds for their self-agenda. Anytime I see a political activist clamouring for a new republic out of Nigeria, I keep wondering if that is the solution to the challenges facing Nigeria. The problem of Nigeria is not Nigeria but the few Nigerians meant to be elite. The few Nigerians that found themselves in ruling schools, a school where what they teach and experiment is fundamentally looting and embezzlement of the poorest Nigerians.

He further posited that, “Ultimately, women are Nigerians and they needed to be given a trial. For instance, when you give a woman 1000 naira to prepare meals for the house, believe me, they know what to do and how to do it that every soul in the house would be satisfied, propose the same to a man and you will find out every man for himself, and God for us all. Women are known for their long-term management and strategies in the house. In fact, they are the bedrock of a developing country, piece of an astrolabe and best manager of man’s life whereas from nothing they bring something and from something they bring worthy things.

He buttressed, “It’s the truth and it’s an undeniable fact that “Constitutionally, all Nigerians are endowed to vote and be voted for under a political franchise rights, so there is no rationalization for women to step aside when it comes to presidency or political representatives intuition. The great Britain is controlled by a queen, Nigerian women should prepare and let the world hear their voice. Nigerians want a female president not residents. Nigerians want a mother not a murderer, Nigerians want a home not a house.”

Adesanya-Davies added, challenging “the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to as such adopt the direct primaries for electing their presidential candidates, saying such will make the new Electoral Bill policy adaptable, effective and useful. The real and true candidate of the party would then emerge in a free and fair election rather than indirect primary method, and that is the beauty of democracy. Through this, I am sure I can actually emerge as the flag bearer of the PDP at the primaries if not by a consensus female candidacy. Sure, ‘Vox populi, vox dei’, the voice of the people is the voice of God,” she asserts.

However, “Daily Trust on Sunday reports that Governor Nyesom Wike, who is regarded as the most influential governor in the PDP (the chief financier) had on Monday said the South would soon make another statement to surprise Nigerians on 2023 presidential zoning. The Southern Governors Forum had on September 16, last year, at the end of their meeting in Enugu, insisted that President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor in 2023 must come from the South in the spirit of justice, equity and fairness.

But while the southerners are advancing their course, PDP’s presidential aspirants from the North; including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Senate President Bukola Saraki, Sokoto State governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and his Bauchi State counterpart, Bala Mohammed, are not leaving any stone unturned to pick the party’s ticket. Sources around them said they had gone far in their consultations for the presidency and were set for declaration.

The battle for the PDP presidential ticket, Daily Trust on Sunday reports, has also ignited a war of words among the country’s elder statesmen. Alhaji Tanko Yakasai had tackled Chief Edwin Clark over his request that all northern presidential aspirants in the PDP should withdraw from the presidential race. Clark, 94, had said: “Doing otherwise is to invite chaos, which will lead to the disintegration of our dear country.”

Thus, with this development, the various interest groups in the leading opposition party are all out to actualise their presidential bids. Each of the “warring factions” is claiming right to the presidency. While those in the South are saying the presidency has been in the North for eight years, therefore, they deserve a fair deal, those in the North are saying that former President Goodluck Jonathan led the country since the death of Umaru Yar’adua in May 2010 up till when he was defeated by President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015.

There are fears in many quarters that if PDP chieftains fail to put their acts together, the crisis rippling them apart would diminish their chances of confronting the APC in 2023. A political scientist, Mohammed Mukhtar said, “It will be suicidal for the PDP to go to their presidential primary election where they would pick their candidate with a divided house.

“Of course, party chieftains across the divide have their convincing reasons for getting the presidential ticket. In the North, the delegates are higher in number while the South has more states. Both sides have people with large pockets to bankroll the convention, but the danger is that if any of the sides walks out at the last minute, it would be difficult for them to confront the APC. They must reach a compromise so that they would not have a repeat of what befell them ahead of the 2015 general elections,” Mukhtar said.

Two leaders of the party who spoke to Daily Trust on Sunday said. “aspirants of the PDP from the South, if given the ticket, would not be able to defeat the APC come 2023. One of them, a founding member of the party, said the five persons nursing presidential ambitions from the South cannot win the presidential election. Nigerians are anxiously waiting for us to give them the candidate that can defeat the APC in 2023 because of the rot in the system. We will not fail them,” one of them said.

“To win the presidential election, we need to have a candidate known across the country and not a sectional leader. The five people who are said to be interested from the South cannot win the election,” the other person said.

There are insinuations that the Rivers State governor, Wike and his Akwa Ibom counterpart, Udom Emmanuel, are eyeing the presidency. A former Senate president, Anyim Pius Anyim and publisher of the Ovation magazine, Dele Momodu, are also in the race from the South. It was further gathered that the Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, is being pushed to contest for the presidency. A northern chieftain of the party said the party would not afford to field an unpopular candidate because of zoning. He said, “Winning election is what should be paramount to all members of our party and not zoning.”

Lending voices to the debate, some university dons said zoning stifled merit but it cannot be jettisoned easily due to the peculiarity of the country. In his response, a political scientist, Dr Mohammed Idris Danjuma of the Kwara State University, Malete, said PDP leaders may have to come to a consensus over the issue. According to him, for democracy to run appropriately, the will of the people in the majority must prevail. “On this issue, although it is not constitutional, looking at parity and equity, the three major groups in the country, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo (in the PDP) should come together if we want the country to survive as one. “Both groups will just have to dialogue and come to a consensus over it,” he said.

On his part, Dr Isiaq Atanda Abdulwaheed, a political scientist from the University of Ilorin, said that while the constitution allows all of them to contest at any particular time, the popular opinion now is for the president to go to the South. “They all have the right to contest as there is no issue of zoning in the constitution; it is only a gentleman’s agreement. However, the dominant narrative now is for the seat to go to the South after the tenure of President Buhari. Anything contrary to that might not augur well for the country. However, zoning arrangement stifles merit; that is where we are,” he said.

Funmilayo Adesanya- Davies, the academic- turned politician also posited that it’s very possible for a woman to emerge as Nigeria’s president in 2023. “If PDP could just zone the presidency to female as a consensus candidate or adopt direct primaries through electronic voting, I shall win by the grace of God; now that the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill of 2022 has been amended and party primaries could be by direct, indirect or consensus methods. A direct primary is used when voters decide their party’s candidates. In an indirect primary, voters elect delegates who choose the party’s candidates at a nominating convention. I look forward to this great decision by PDP to adopt the direct primaries”, she stated.

Adesanya-Davies said, “I will contest! I have a dream, that one day, a woman will emerge as the President of Nigeria, and the dream is now!!! We, women need to try our best in 2023 at all levels. From now onwards, every woman should endeavour to speak to at least fifty women to vote for a ‘woman President,’ in Nigeria. Tell five women daily from now till 2023 elections. Remember, Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Your happiness starts from you and not from someone else.’ So should all the Nigerian youth and all the ‘he for she’ and all the men campaign and vote for the first female president in Nigeria in 2023. This could and would be the only functional approach.”

Adesanya-Davies is the current Country President and International Director of United Nations Positive Livelihood Award Centre (UN-POLAC) International Peace Advocates. She said that, “when intelligent, dedicated and women of excellence are empowered and put in top political positions, corruption, lack of development and all forms of vices and violence in their entirety can completely be exhumed from Nigeria.”

Now, she again wants to become the first Female president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, let’s think over it, let’s seriously consider her as they have all muted and give her a chance – Both at the primaries and at the general elections, in order to move our nation forward.

Read more
https://dailytrust.com/2023-presidency-zoning-widens-gulf-in-pdp