National
Bode George to PDP: Zone ticket to South or face defeat in 2023
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, says the party will be “soundly defeated” in the 2023 presidential election if it jettisons zoning.
The PDP is yet to take a decision on which region of the country will produce its 2023 presidential candidate.
Its zoning committee headed by Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom had recommended that the strategy be thrown open to all members interested in contesting the presidential election.
The recommendation which is subject to ratification by the PDP National Working Committee(NWC) and National Executive Committee (NEC), however, drew diverse opinions with some members insisting that the ticket be zoned to the South.
George, who featured on Arise Television programme yesterday warned that the PDP would be ”looking for serious trouble” in 2023 if failed to zone the presidential ticket to the South.
Advising the PDP to ”embrace equity, justice and fairness,” he argued that throwing the presidential ticket open would ”be doing incalculable damage to the psyche of “non-card-carrying members of the party”.
“If the party decides that( throwing the ticket open) , I can emphatically say we are looking for serious trouble and we will be soundly defeated, “ George, a former military governor of old Ondo State, added.:
He argued that for now, the best method for picking candidates by political parties in Nigeria for presidential elections was zoning.
His words: ”Let’s think about how this country can grow. Turn by turn Nigeria limited, what’s wrong with doing that. As I said, it’s not a 100 metres dash race but a continuum. Let there be equity, justice and fairness.
“Let’s not go through that route because we will be doing incalculable damage to the psychological minds of the majority of people who are not card-carrying members of the party.