Atiku 2023 formula
OpenLife Nigeria reports that the Abubakar Atiku 2023 presidential aspiration may be hanging in the balance going by the outcome of Thursday’s Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s National Executive Council, NEC, meeting at the Wadata Plaza headquarters of the opposition party.
At the meeting, Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party insisted that the national chairmanship of the party should go to the North.
This position held sway as the National Executive Committee of the PDP adopted the report of the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi-led PDP zoning committee, at its 94th NEC meeting, in Abuja.
The Ugwanyi committee had recommended that all party positions hitherto held by southerners should be swapped with those currently being held by northerners.
The committee in its report recommended among others that, “The current offices being held by officers in the southern zones of the country, namely, South-West, South-East and South-South zones, should swap places with the offices currently in the northern zones of Nigeria, namely, North-West, North-East and North-Central zones.”
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, who announced the decision of NEC, while speaking to the media after the meeting said, “NEC adopted the report of the Ifeanyi Ugwanyi’s Committee on the Zoning of offices of the National Working Committee.”
On whether the issue of zoning of the 2023 presidential ticket was discussed and what decision was arrived at, Ologbondiyan, said, “The issue of the Governor Bala Mohammed Committee came up and it was resolved that it should be deferred till another NEC meeting. Today’s meeting was to consider the Ugwuanyi committee report and that was what he did.”
Before that, the Governor Bala Mohammed-led Committee on the review of the 2019 general elections had recommended that the contest for the presidential ticket of the party should be thrown open to all eligible party members.
In the face of this brewing confusion, strategists in the camp of Abubakar Atiku 2023 presidential interest have assured that all is well.
Speaking with OpenLife Friday afternoon, a former governor, who requested not to be named, said, “There is no cause for alarm. Whatever the outcome of the NEC meeting, Atiku would pick the PDP presidential ticket.
“He would contest the 2023 presidential election and win.
“We are going to adopt Emmanuel Ogidi’s formula. We have done the arithmetic and nothing to worry about,” he assured.
Pressed to explain what Emmanuel Ogidi’s Formula connotes in their political arithmetic, the ex-governor said:
“Between 2006 and 2008, Emmanuel Ogidi was the PDP State chairman in Delta State. He hails from Delta South Senatorial District.
“And as of that time, former governor James Onanefe Ibori had made up his mind to hand over power to Emmanuel Uduaghan who equally hails from Delta South.
“But there were arguments about the State Chairman of the party and the governorship ticket going to the same senatorial districts.
“But Ibori assured the agitators that once Uduaghan assumed office, Emmanuel Ogidi would step down as the State chairman so that the position would go to another senatorial district.
“And that was exactly how it happened. Therefore, in Atiku’s case, if the national chairman of PDP comes from the north in the next convention, Atiku would still be allowed to contest the primaries and he would win.
“When he wins, the chairmanship will be returned to the south in the next congress that will be held,” he explained.
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