{"id":177651,"date":"2025-09-04T14:34:50","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T13:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp"},"modified":"2025-09-04T15:37:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T14:37:34","slug":"zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp","title":{"rendered":"Zoning risks dividing Nigeria \u2013 Olawepo-Hashim tells PDP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Former Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has warned that the party\u2019s decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South could deepen divisions in the country.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking during an interview with Arise TV, Olawepo-Hashim argued that zoning elective offices is unconstitutional and discriminatory.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy opposition to zoning the presidency is not because I want it to come to the North-Central. I am against it because it goes against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The constitution does not permit any party to zone an elected political office, such as the president, on account of region. It is discriminatory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to him, no political party in Nigeria\u2019s history has ever formally barred candidates from contesting because of where they come from.<\/p>\n<p>He recalled the 1999 elections, saying there was an unwritten agreement that the presidency should go to the South-West after the annulment of the June 12 election, but candidates from other zones were not excluded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDr. Alex Ekwueme from the South-East contested. Abubakar Rimi from the North-West also contested. The leaders, in a mature manner, allowed delegates to make the final choice,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>Olawepo-Hashim stressed that pushing zoning as a policy could fuel tension among Nigerians.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe danger in this kind of thing is that you pitch one section of the country against another, which is a very terrible low,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n<p>He maintained that Nigerians are more concerned about competence and leadership than where the president comes from.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNigerians are not interested in where the president comes from. Nigerians want a competent president, a president who can fix the economy, a president who can fix national security, from any zone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Referring to the last election, he added that President Bola Tinubu, though from the South, got most of his votes from the North.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe lost in Lagos. He struggled there. That shows you that the Nigerian electorate is not carried away by what some political elites are trying to push,\u201d Olawepo-Hashim said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Former Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has warned that the party\u2019s decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South could deepen divisions in the country. Speaking during an interview with Arise TV, Olawepo-Hashim argued that zoning elective offices is unconstitutional and discriminatory. \u201cMy opposition [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":177649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[254,65],"class_list":["post-177651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-nigeria","tag-pdp"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Zoning risks dividing Nigeria \u2013 Olawepo-Hashim tells PDP - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has warned that the part ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zoning risks dividing Nigeria \u2013 Olawepo-Hashim tells PDP\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has warned that the part ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-04T13:34:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-04T14:37:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1756984236.026784.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Zoning risks dividing Nigeria \u2013 Olawepo-Hashim tells PDP\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-04T13:34:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-04T14:37:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp\"},\"wordCount\":353,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1756984236.026784.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\",\"PDP\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp\",\"name\":\"Zoning risks dividing Nigeria \u2013 Olawepo-Hashim tells PDP - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1756984236.026784.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-04T13:34:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-04T14:37:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Former Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has warned that the part ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1756984236.026784.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1756984236.026784.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Zoning risks dividing Nigeria \u2013 Olawepo-Hashim tells PDP\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Zoning risks dividing Nigeria \u2013 Olawepo-Hashim tells PDP\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Zoning risks dividing Nigeria \u2013 Olawepo-Hashim tells PDP - Nigeria","description":"Former Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has warned that the part ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Zoning risks dividing Nigeria \u2013 Olawepo-Hashim tells PDP","og_description":"Former Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has warned that the part ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2025-09-04T13:34:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-04T14:37:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1756984236.026784.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Zoning risks dividing Nigeria \u2013 Olawepo-Hashim tells PDP","datePublished":"2025-09-04T13:34:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-04T14:37:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp"},"wordCount":353,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1756984236.026784.jpg","keywords":["Nigeria","PDP"],"articleSection":["all news","Policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp","name":"Zoning risks dividing Nigeria \u2013 Olawepo-Hashim tells PDP - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1756984236.026784.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-04T13:34:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-04T14:37:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Former Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has warned that the part ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1756984236.026784.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1756984236.026784.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Zoning risks dividing Nigeria \u2013 Olawepo-Hashim tells PDP"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/zoning-risks-dividing-nigeria-olawepo-hashim-tells-pdp#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Zoning risks dividing Nigeria \u2013 Olawepo-Hashim tells PDP"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}