{"id":51734,"date":"2021-10-13T17:54:16","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T16:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?p=51734"},"modified":"2021-10-13T17:35:28","modified_gmt":"2021-10-13T16:35:28","slug":"debates-over-atikus-presidential-ambition-thicken-as-pdp-zones-party-chairmanship-to-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/debates-over-atikus-presidential-ambition-thicken-as-pdp-zones-party-chairmanship-to-north","title":{"rendered":"Debates over Atiku\u2019s presidential ambition thicken as PDP zones party chairmanship to North"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Nigeria<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>The aspiration of the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to run for the 2023 presidential election may have crashed with the zoning arrangement of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on National Chairmanship.<\/p>\n

PDP had agreed to zone its National Chairmanship to the Northern part of the country.<\/p>\n

The National Working Committee (NEC) of the PDP last week Thursday approved the zoning of the party\u2019s next National Chairman to the North.<\/p>\n

PDP\u2019s NEC considered and adopted the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi-led Zoning Committee\u2019s report, ahead of the party\u2019s national convention, scheduled for October 30.<\/p>\n

The party\u2019s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, disclosed this while addressing newsmen on the outcome of the NEC held in Abuja.<\/p>\n

Insinuations in certain quarters are of the opinion that with the zoning of its National Chairmanship to the North, PDP\u2019s 2023 presidential candidate should emerge from the Southern part of the country.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the issue, a political activist, said the arrangement should be a booster to the South\u2019s push for presidency.<\/p>\n

The activist who wished to be anonymous, however, noted that things may change with the current clamour by the North to hold on to power in 2023.<\/p>\n

He told DAILY POST: \u201cIt\u2019s only logical and fair that PDP\u2019s presidential candidate should come from the South, since they zoned the National Chairmanship to the North.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time like this when Nigeria\u2019s unity is threatened with some zones alleging marginalization, a Southern presidential candidate of PDP would go a long way in quelling some of these agitations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis not withstanding, the party may still give its ticket to the North; anything can happen in politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Southern part of Nigeria may eventually produce PDP\u2019s presidential ticket with the North producing the party\u2019s National Chairmanship.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Anthony Ehilebo, PDP\u2019s Director of New Media, noted that PDP\u2019s zoning of its National Chairmanship to the North does not imply that a Southerner would emerge as the party\u2019s presidential candidate.<\/p>\n

Speaking with DAILY POST, Ehilebo, however, affirmed that Atiku is a viable candidate.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that anything can still happen with regards to who emerges as PDP\u2019s presidential candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cAtiku, who was the PDP\u2019s flag bearer in the 2015 presidential election and had lost to President Muhammadu Buhari, is widely believed to be nursing the ambition of running for the highest political office in the country in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrior to the party\u2019s latest NEC meeting, Atiku\u2019s campaign posters were sighted in some states, though he is yet to officially declare his intention to run for the presidency in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, you know politics is a dynamic game and it\u2019s all dependent on the factors that come to bear at that particular time, like the mood of the nation and the sentiments of the leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we can\u2019t say the zoning to the North can change the political equation. There was a time when we had President Yar\u2019Adua and Amodu Ali as National Chairman. Amodu Ali was from the North central while the president was from the Northwest, and it was not a big deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just a conjecture about the president and Chairmanship. Nothing stops the chairman from resigning if he has the interest of the party at heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see, all these things are still conjectures, we are not certain about the eventual outcome yet. You can\u2019t ignore the Southern leaders, they have the majority in the party and they seem to have a game plan and they keep their cards close to their chest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe politics in PDP is too dynamic. As we speak, I don\u2019t know who would become the party\u2019s next chairman. Politics is so dynamic that within 10 minutes, a decision of a life time can be taken.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, Atiku is a viable candidate but he may just be a victim of circumstance that is beyond his control and the control of everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. The aspiration of the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to run for the 2023 presidential election may have crashed with the zoning arrangement of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on National Chairmanship. PDP had agreed to zone its National Chairmanship to the Northern part of the country. The National Working Committee (NEC) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":51733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,28,14,26],"tags":[1570,2140,316,254,65],"class_list":["post-51734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-nigeria-2","tag-atiku","tag-nigeria","tag-pdp"],"yoast_head":"\nDebates over Atiku\u2019s presidential ambition thicken as PDP zones party chairmanship to North - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The aspiration of the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to run for the 2023 presidential election may have crashed w ...\" \/>\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\/debates-over-atikus-presidential-ambition-thicken-as-pdp-zones-party-chairmanship-to-north\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Debates over Atiku\u2019s presidential ambition thicken as PDP zones party chairmanship to North\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The aspiration of the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to run for the 2023 presidential election may have crashed w ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/debates-over-atikus-presidential-ambition-thicken-as-pdp-zones-party-chairmanship-to-north\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-13T16:54:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2021\/10\/img-61670ab777533.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"740\" \/>\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=\"3 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\/debates-over-atikus-presidential-ambition-thicken-as-pdp-zones-party-chairmanship-to-north#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/debates-over-atikus-presidential-ambition-thicken-as-pdp-zones-party-chairmanship-to-north\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Debates over Atiku\u2019s presidential ambition thicken as PDP zones party chairmanship to North\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-13T16:54:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/debates-over-atikus-presidential-ambition-thicken-as-pdp-zones-party-chairmanship-to-north\"},\"wordCount\":681,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/debates-over-atikus-presidential-ambition-thicken-as-pdp-zones-party-chairmanship-to-north#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2021\/10\/img-61670ab777533.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Nigeria\",\"Atiku\",\"Nigeria\",\"PDP\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"Policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/debates-over-atikus-presidential-ambition-thicken-as-pdp-zones-party-chairmanship-to-north#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/debates-over-atikus-presidential-ambition-thicken-as-pdp-zones-party-chairmanship-to-north\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/debates-over-atikus-presidential-ambition-thicken-as-pdp-zones-party-chairmanship-to-north\",\"name\":\"Debates over Atiku\u2019s presidential ambition thicken as PDP zones party chairmanship to North - 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