By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
Former National Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mark Jacob, has dismissed as false report that the major opposition party has zoned its presidential ticket for the 2023 elections to the North.
The PDP chieftain, who also served as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Kaduna state, made this denial while speaking in a television programme.
According to him, “Nobody has discussed anything on zoning in our party. We have not zoned out party’s presidential ticket to the North. In fact, the feeling among members is that it should be zoned to the Southern part of the country”.
He said though the PDP is practicing a democratic system, where every member has the right to his or her opinion, the party would not take unpopular opinions from any of its members.
Recall that recently, the media reported that the main opposition party has zoned its presidential ticket to the North ahead of the 2023 general election, just as the report claimed that the party’s stakeholders are set to zone the chairmanship position of the party to the South.
But during its 92nd National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting at the weekend, the party had announced that it will arrive at a zoning formula for the National Working Committee (NWC) at a meeting billed for September 9.
This comes on the heels of the recent internal crisis facing the PDP, in which a High Court in Rivers State, had suspended the National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, from parading himself as PDP Chairman.
Though another High Court sitting in Jigawa, issued a stay of execution against the Rivers High Court order, another High Court sitting in Cross River State, a few days ago, issued another Order restraining Uche Secondus from parading himself as PDP national Chairman.
Observers believe that zoning and nomination of the PDP presidential ticket and party chairmanship position, in addition to the choice of who becomes the party’s standard bearer in the 2023 elections, is at the core of the party’s internal squabbles.
