A leaked working document prepared by the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) 44-member National Convention Committee on Zoning may have recommended to zone its national chairmanship position to the Southwest, according to Punch.
Reports say that the committee recommended that the position of secretary should go to the North.
The committee which is being chaired by the Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, will meet on Thursday.
The main consideration, according to the document, is that the Southwest zone has not produced the party’s national chairman since inception.
In picking the Southwest, the committee members considered the past distribution pattern of the geopolitical zones that produced chairmen and came to the conclusion that the Southwest deserved to get the slot.
Apart from the past distribution pattern, members were said to have noted that before the emergence of Uche Secondus as the national chairman, no fewer than 12 members from the Southwest aspired to lead the party before it was taken to the Southsouth.
The distribution pattern as considered by the party is that the Northcentral has produced five past chairmen in persons of Chief Solomon Lar, Barnabas Gemade, Audu Ogbeh, Ahmadu Ali and Kawu Baraje; while the Northeast has produced three chairmen in persons of Dr Bamanga Tukur, Dr Adamu Muazu and Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.
The Northwest produced two – Dr Haliru Bello and Senator Ahmed Makarfi; the Southeast produced two – Vincent Ogbulafor and Okwesilieze Nwodo; while the Southsouth produced Secondus both as acting and as substantive chairman.
“It is now clearly seen that the national chairmanship position has stayed long in the North, and particularly dominant in the North-Central. The South-West had never been given the opportunity.
“In actual fact, it is was an issue and generally acknowledged that the national chairmanship was aspired by no fewer than 12 aspirants from South-West before the twist that took it to the South-South.”