PDP agrees that north can have 2023 presidency ticket

Despite the emergence of former Senate President, Iyorchia Ayu, as consensus candidate for the position of Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria's biggest opposition party won't shut the door to a northerner taking a shot at the presidency in 2023 from its platform.

Ayu is from the north-central state of Benue.

It was believed in political circles that should the PDP Chairman emerge from any of the northern states, the party would cede its presidency ticket to the south, especially because Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner and a member of the governing APC, has been at the helm of affairs in Nigeria in the past 6 years.

Traditionally, the PDP has always zoned its chairmanship and presidential seats to different geopolitical regions in line with the federal character doctrine and fair representation.

However, a former acting National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, tells Punch that party leaders agreed this week that a northerner can contest for the presidency in 2023 from the PDP platform.

“It was one of the provisos when we settled for Ayu. The concern was very much addressed and we are satisfied.

“The party too agreed with us. We agreed that the fact that the party chairman is coming from the north-central does not stop the zone from contesting the presidential ticket This was put in black and white as an agreement," Baraje says.

The governing APC is likely to cede its 2023 presidential ticket to the south of Nigeria, with ex-Lagos Governor Bola Tinubu and his associates, garnering all the headlines in recent times.