PDP zoning to South subtle campaign for Tinubu’s re-election — Olawepo-Hashim
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Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has faulted the party’s decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South, saying the move was a subtle endorsement of President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.
Olawepo-Hashim said this while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today shortly after the PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja on Monday.
He described the zoning decision as “unprecedented” in the party’s history.
“Zoning the presidency to the South is a default campaign for the return of President Bola Tinubu because those who are mounting this campaign of zoning to the South are the same people who are saying we are in PDP, but we work for President Tinubu,” he said.
According to him, the NEC’s resolution effectively shuts out potential candidates from other regions, thereby undermining the PDP’s ability to field a competitive flagbearer.
“It’s a default campaign for the PDP not to have a viable candidate by those people. So this is a subtle campaign for an easy ride of Bola Tinubu’s re-election,” he said.
Olawepo-Hashim insisted that the PDP had never barred any region from contesting the presidency.
Citing historical precedents, he recalled that “The PDP has never zoned the presidency before. In 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was then General Obasanjo, contested against Alhaji Rimi from Northern Nigeria and some other candidates, Dr Alex Ekwueme, etc.
“In 2003, as a sitting president in the villa, President Obasanjo had to contest again with Chief Barnabas Gemade from Benue, Alhaji Rimi from Kano. The party never shut the door against any zone.”
While acknowledging that the NEC decision was reached democratically, he maintained it was a “big error.”
He said, “I’m not saying that they didn’t do it by majority. They did it by a majority. It was quite democratic. All the organs of the party decided. But it made a big error.”
Olawepo-Hashim also warned that the zoning policy could trigger a constitutional crisis, arguing that it violates the Nigerian Constitution.
“The constitution of Nigeria does not allow you to discriminate against a party member when it comes to an elective position on account of where he comes from,” he cautioned.
“Any party member who is interested can go to court and say, I was shut out by the zoning policy. And on account of that, the party candidate can be struck down.”
Despite his criticism, he expressed confidence that the PDP could reverse the decision, noting that the party has a “self-correcting mechanism.”
He cited past instances where controversial NEC resolutions were overturned at national conventions.
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