PDP leaders are nervous as a key committee meets to make major decisions.

The party's zoning committee has called a meeting for next week to decide on the zoning formula to be used for party positions and political seats.

According to sources close to the situation, a 44-member committee led by Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi will meet on September 22 and 23 to zone party offices at the national level.

The committee will also discuss whether the party's presidential ticket should be designated to the north or south.

Vice President, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Deputy President of the Senate, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation are among the other roles that will be zoned.

The party's National Executive Committee (NEC) established the committee during a meeting in Abuja on September 9th.

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State serves as vice chairman of the committee, which also includes the deputy governor of Zamfara State, Aliyu Mohammed, who will serve as secretary, and two former Senate Presidents, Pius Anyim and David Mark.

The zoning committee also includes former governors Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Ayo Fayose (Ekiti); Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto); and Sule Lamido (Jigawa).

One of the principal causes of the main opposition party's current leadership problem has been a struggle over the zoning of the presidential ticket and the national chairmanship seat.

The party's current zoning system has handed the chairmanship and presidential nomination to the south.

According to the criteria, Uche Secondus of Rivers State (in the south) was elected as the party's national chairman in 2017.

Tunde Adeniran, Raymond Dokpesi, and Taoheed Adedoja, who ran alongside Mr Secondus for the seat, all hail from the southern portion of the country.

The NWC's other offices were likewise zoned.

Because the national chairman was chosen from the south, the presidential candidate for the 2019 election was chosen from the north automatically.

In that election, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of Adamawa State in the north-east zone carried the party's flag, however he ultimately lost to President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The party has gone back to the drawing board to rethink its zoning model ahead of the 2023 election. This was bolstered by the party's leadership issue, which saw some senior members push for Mr Secondus' resignation even though his term ended in December.

There are proposals to change the present zoning mechanism ahead of the PDP national convention on the 30th and 31st of October, which will elect new members of the NWC to replace the Secondus-led NWC.

It has been learned that some of the party's top brass are already lobbying hard on the topic of zoning.

According to sources, the intensive politicking over the zoning formula is mostly driven by the personal goals of a few important party members.

While some support the present structure of keeping the party's chairperson seat in the south in order for the presidential candidate to come from the north, others do not.

Those who favor the status quo are apparently attempting to lure Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a former governor of Osun State, into the chairmanship race, as Mr Secondus may not seek reelection.

Other party leaders, on the other hand, have limited the field to Mr Mark. Benue, in the north central zone, is where the former Senate President hails from.

Those opposed to the agreement argue that if this is allowed, the push for a southern president to succeed Mr Buhari, which has been championed by governors from the region, will be thwarted.

Since Mr Buhari, who is from the north, would be finishing his second term in 2023, they believe the presidency should go to the south, especially since the APC, to which he belongs, will most likely choose a flag bearer from the south.

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Regardless, this publication has learned that certain northern PDP members, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, are preparing to vie for the country's top political office. As a result, they are reportedly pushing for the appointment of a southern national chairman.

Not only among the PDP, but also within the ruling APC, there has been a more united clamor for the presidential ticket to be transferred to the South.
The Southern Governors Forum, which includes governors elected on the platforms of the two main parties in the region, gathered in Lagos recently and requested that the presidency be given to the south.

During their meeting in Enugu last week, they reinforced the call.

As a result, members of both parties in the region are campaigning for the north to be granted the party's chairmanship ticket. Northerners, who are also pressing for the party office to be moved to the south so that they can keep their presidentship, have effectively blocked this proposal.

Meanwhile, Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, one of the three governors who recently defected from the PDP to the APC, has chastised several of his former party's governors, accusing them of lying about their desire for a Southern Presidential ticket in 2023.

“The fact is that a number of us – the Southern Governors – who were present at that meeting and stated that the Presidency must visit the South, particularly the PDP, are not being truthful. Let's wait and watch what they (the PDP) come up with in terms of zoning in the coming weeks,” Mr Umahi said, challenging the main opposition party.

He believes that the PDP's initial goal of a presidential ticket for the region may be jeopardized due to the dishonesty of some governors.

In a rebuttal statement made on Saturday, PDP spokesperson Kola Ologbondiyan characterized the Ebonyi governor as an attention seeker.

“Since Governor Umahi, out of personal ambition, joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) while still holding the PDP's Ebonyi state mandate, he has become pathetically confused and disoriented, having realized that he boarded a "one chance" bus with strange and deceptive fellow passengers, according to the party.

Mr Ologbondiyan had reacted, leaving Mr Umahi's zoning challenge hanging. “It is clear that Governor Umahi is now politically floating and seeks to actualize his desperation for public relevance by using an unwarranted attack on governors elected on the platform of the PDP to actualize his desperation for public relevance,” Mr Ologbondiyan had said.

However, given the PDP's current internal turmoil, there's a good chance that the party's 44-member zoning committee won't be able to reach a consensus on zoning issues at its scheduled meeting.

There is a possibility that the committee will vote on the issue.

One powerful party leader predicted that the meeting will finish in a stalemate on Saturday night.