Mr Osita Okechukwu, a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has urged Nigerians to hold the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) responsible if next year’s presidency is not zoned to the South.
Okechukwu said APC has been watching with studied interest the desperation of PDP to prey on President Muhammadu Buhari’s twelve million vote bank, stressing that as a political party APC has to fine-tune its strategies for the 2023 general elections.
He was reacting to the condemnation of APC’s indecision to zone the 2023 presidency to the South from PANDEF, Ohanaeze, Middle Belt Forum and Afenifere.
The Director-General (DG) of Voice of Nigeria (VON) said although it was doubtful that any politician in PDP could sweep Buhari’s 12 million votes away, PDP’s desperation to break into the President’s vote bank explains APC’s indecision.
Recall that the leaders of the regional socio-cultural groupings, MBF, Afenifere, Ohanaeze and PANDEF, had during the recent Greater Nigeria Conference (GNC) held in Abuja accused the APC of playing hanky-panky with the zoning of next year’s presidency to the South.
But, speaking during an interaction with newsmen in Abuja, Okechukwu was quoted by NAN as saying: “Although one isn’t holding the brief for our distinguished national Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, one’s little understanding is that the leadership of our great party, is watching closely the desperation and antics of our elder sister political party, the PDP.
“They want to capture power, by all means, indeed using Machiavellian tactics. We all know that PDP is famished, thirsty and desperate to win the Presidency in 2023. They loathe the loss of their slogan ‘Share the Money’ through their absence from power at the centre for seven going to eight years.
“PDP,” he said, “is aware that President Buhari will not be on the ballot in 2023, therefore, for them, there is a void to fill. They must have reasoned that the Buhari’s Vote Bank would be up for grabs if they go north.
“To be frank, my take on the matter is that the swap option is still open because some of us from the South are still arguing that we have dormant votes, especially Igbo votes which will augment APC members’ votes from the north.
“However, if at the end of the day the zoning fails, we should blame PDP’s desperation, because we’ve been advocating a repeat of the Chiefs Obasanjo/Falae; Yaradua/Buhari and Buhari/Atiku models of 1999, 2007 and 2019 models.”
