How Foiled Moves to Suspend Anyanwu Ahead NEC Rescued PDP from Fresh Crisis

•Zoning presidential ticket two years to election anti-people, ADC tackles PDP, APC

•Hashim-Olawepo’s group says zoning done in error

•Northern group rejects taking presidency to south

Chuks Okocha in Abuja and John Shiklam in Kaduna

A foiled decision by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus to suspend the national secretary of the party, Samuel Anyanwu, ahead of its Monday’s 102nd National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, saved the party from erupting ahead of its planned national convention later in the year.
But African Democratic Congress (ADC) said the decision by PDP and All Progressives Congress (APC) to begin talks about zoning their 2027 presidential tickets two years before the election showed they did not care about addressing the plight of Nigerians.
At the same time, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim Solidarity Movement (GHSM) faulted the PDP NEC’s decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the south, describing it as a constitutional and strategic blunder.
Joint Action Committee of Northern Youth Associations (JACON) also rejected the hasty zoning decision, and said it was targeted at the north.
THISDAY gathered that Anyanwu had refused to sign the letter for the proposed national convention on the conditions that certain demands were met.
His conditions, THISDAY learned, included that the congresses in some South-east states, including Ebonyi and Anambra, be re-conducted before he would sign the letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) intimating it of the dates for the convention.
THISDAY sources said the development had angered members of the caucus, populated mainly by governors of the party, who at their meeting, which preceded the NEC, resolved to suspend him and get someone else to sign the letter to INEC.
But the timely arrival of former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, THISDAY was told, saved the day, after he warned that traveling that route might see the party playing into the hands of its enemies.
Sources added that Saraki pleaded with the caucus to let him engage Anyanwu to stand down and not be seen as deliberately clogging the path to progress of the party.
Although a majority of the caucus members were said not to have believed that Saraki could pull it off, especially when tension was said to have risen already, he engaged Anyanwu, who also saw reasons with him and eventually signed the letter after putting away his demands.
PDP at its NEC meeting zoned the party’s 2027 presidential ticket to the southern region of Nigeria, and retained its chairmanship in the north.
In May 22, governors of the ruling APC and some powerful organs of the ruling party adopted President Bola Tinubu, a southerner, as the sole candidate of the party for the 2027 election.
Both PDP and APC said their decisions aligned with the eight-year unwritten rule of power rotation between the southern and northern regions of the country.
PDP’s decision to zone its presidential ticket to the south of the country was seen as a master stroke by a lot of PDP members and their supporters. They stressed that the move that might have given the party a chance at the 2027 general election.
Yet, there have been some other interests, who considered the decision, both undemocratic and unconstitutional, including the fact that it might have been targeted at the north.

Zoning Presidential Tickets Two Years to Poll Anti-people, ADC Tackles PDP, APC
African Democratic Congress (ADC) said the decision by the PDP and the APC to begin talks about zoning their 2027 presidential tickets two years before the election showed they did not care about addressing the plights of Nigerians.
“The general election is still in 2027. It’s still two years away,” ADC spokesman, Bolaji Abdullahi, said on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme yesterday.
“Why are we so preoccupied and behaving in such a way that Nigerians begin to look at the political elite across the political divides that we don’t care about them?”
Abdullahi, who claimed PDP was playing a game, stated, “Why are they taking the decision two years before the general election?
“They are very experienced people, and they know the implications of showing their way too early. So, it’s either they are playing the predetermined game or baiting some people to come around because they’ve been shopping around for who to be the presidential candidate of the party.”
Abdullahi said ADC had several qualified persons, who had shown interest in running for president on its platform and was not insufficient of potential flag bearer.
He stated, “When people say that the coalition was put together for a particular candidate running elections, in the papers yesterday, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, came out to say he is going to run for president.
“So, if this whole thing was put together for him, why would he need to come out to say he is running for president. Don’t forget we still have the likes of Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi and others, who are interested in running, and we have reiterated that they have an equal chance.”
Abdullahi explained that ADC was not bothered by the decisions of PDP and APC, but focused on consolidating its newly formed union.
He said, “We are not bothered with what the PDP has done. They know the game they are playing. Nigerians can see right into it. PDP people are not naïve people; they are very experienced politicians.
“So, for them to take that decision two years ahead of the presidential election, there must be a game on and we can see right through it. So, we are not bothered, we are not pressured, we are focused on our party.
“We believe there are still two parties in Nigeria now – APC, the ruling party, and ADC, the main opposition coalition,” he said, stressing that the coalition had not begun talks about the zoning of the party but would do so when the time was ripe.
“The decision is ADC’s decision, and at the right time, we are going to take that decision. What is most important to us is to convince Nigerians that we represent that alternative that can bring respite to their current sufferings.”
Abdullahi said, “As far as the ADC is concerned, we are not having that kind of conversation now. We are not having conversations about zoning, where the president will come from and where it will not come from.
“The coalition moved into the ADC about two months ago, and there is so much work to do in building the party, especially mobilising the people at the grassroots level and putting up structures.”

Zoning Done in Error, Says Hashim-Olawepo’s Group
The Gbenga Hashim-Olawepo Solidarity Movement (GHSM) faulted the decision by PDP NEC to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the south.
Describing the decision as a constitutional and strategic blunder, GHSM declared that it would continue to advocate Olawepo-Hashim’s presidential candidacy in 2027 despite what it described as the strategic and constitutional error by PDP NEC.
The group warned that such action might not only jeopardise the party’s chances in 2027, but could also expose its candidates to possible disqualification by the courts.
In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Abdulrazaq Hamzat, the movement said PDP NEC, despite acting on a resolution that might have enjoyed majority support, lacked the legal authority to restrict elective offices to any region, as this violated both the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999 as amended) and the PDP constitution.
The group cited Section 42(1) of the Nigerian constitution, which forbade any form of discrimination against citizens on grounds of ethnic group, place of origin, religion, sex, or political opinion, adding that shutting out aspirants based on “zoning” ran contrary to this provision.
He further referenced Section 7(2)(c) of the PDP Constitution, which affirmed that the party shall “conform to the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” stressing that zoning elective offices amounts to a direct violation.
The movement reminded Nigerians that in 1999, despite the overwhelming sentiment of the June 12 annulment, the PDP did not zone its presidential ticket.
Instead, aspirants from across the country contested freely, including Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (South-west), Dr. Alex Ekwueme (South-east), Chief Jim Nwobodo (South-sought),Alhaji Abubakar Rimi (North West) and Dr Francis Ellah (South South).
“In that election, every aspirant exercised their democratic rights, and Nigerians expressed their sentiments through legitimate votes, not through exclusion,” Hamzat recalled.
Similarly, in 2003, despite being the sitting president, it said Obasanjo was not handed an automatic ticket.
He contested alongside other heavyweights such as Chief Barnabas Gemade (North-central) and Alhaji Abubakar Rimi (North-west), while aspirants from other regions were also cleared to participate.
“History has shown us that whenever the PDP abandons its democratic tradition of open contests, it pays a heavy price,” Hamzat stated, adding, “The zoning of the 2027 presidential ticket is, therefore, not just an error but a dangerous miscalculation.”

Northern Group Rejects PDPs Zoning
The Joint Action Committee of Northern Youth Associations (JACON), too, rejected the PDP’s decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the south.
Addressing a press conference yesterday in Kaduna, JOCON’s Director of Media and Public Affairs, Sani Yaya, warned that the decision amounted to “political marginalisation” and would be met with a strong electoral backlash.
The group described the move as “anti-democratic” and a “betrayal of the North’s unwavering support” for the party since 1999.
Yaya said, “JACON has received with utter shock and profound dismay the anti-democratic and unjust decision by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to zone its presidential candidacy for the 2027 elections exclusively to the southern part of Nigeria, thereby blatantly excluding qualified Nigerians from the north from contesting.
“This decision is not only a grave affront to the principles of fairness and justice but also a monumental betrayal of the massive and unwavering support the north has given the PDP since the inception of the Fourth Republic.
“It is a reckless move that negates the very spirit of national unity and rotational equity which the party claims to uphold.
“It is undeniable historical fact that out of these sixteen years of PDP rule, the North was only allowed to produce the President for an extremely short period of two and a half years. This is profoundly unjust. The South, under the PDP, held the presidency for a whopping thirteen and a half years.
“Therefore the move by the governors to zone the ticket back to the south in 2027 is a deliberate attempt to permanently side lines the north and deny it the opportunity to complete its rightful share of leadership within the party that it nourished with its votes.”
It however, warned that “this calculated marginalisation will not go unanswered”, as the north “can no longer continue to be the political beast of burden for a party that treats it as a second-class region, only useful for its votes but not deserving of its fair share of leadership.”