The dust has not yet established the decision of the Democratic Party of the Peoples (PDP) to locate its 2027 presidential ticket to the south.
On Wednesday, Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, one of the northern candidates, continued his protest for the decision.
Gbenga Hashim said Wednesday that he would ask the National Party Convention to decide on the matter, insisting that the Convention would have the last word.
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GBENGA HASHIM has been consistent by opposing the PDP Zoning Agreement since Monday when the National Executive Committee Meeting (NEC) of the party made the decision.
According to him, in the past, there were cases in which the Convention had revoked NEC’s decision on issues that affect the party.
The development occurred when the interested parties of the party in the territory of the Federal Capital (FCT) also opposed the zoning of the presidential space to the south.
Speaking in Abuja, Gbenga Hashim, a 2007 governor contestant in the state of Kwara, said: “This zoning decision will not be maintained. In 2000, the NEC made the decision to extend the mandate of the National Labor Committee, NWC directed by Engr. Barnabas Gemade from two years to four years. I was then the secretary of national advertising.
“I led the G54 NEC members, and we present our request to the National Convention and the decision of the NEC decision was rejected.”
“Zonear the presidential ticket from the party to the north or south is antidemocratic. It would not serve the party that it was not good to exclude some people.”
Gbenga Hashim also argued: “In 1999, (former president) Olusegun Obasanjo played (the deceased) Alex Ekwueme and Abubakar Romi. In 2003, again, Obasanjo played against Ekwueme and Rimi.
“Even more recently, President Bola Tinubu in the APC disputed against another 14 presidential aspirations and Tinubu won. Why should the PDP place its presidential ticket to the south, where some people would be areas? That is not democratic and is not constitutional.
“The last one has not been heard in this unconstitutional zoning by the 102 NEC; the legality would be proven in the National Convention. As was the case in 2000, when the Convention annulled the NEC, therefore, it would be in the National Convention of Ibadan, since it is an elective convention where the problems would be voted.
“That there is an open contest based on competition in the management of our economic challenges, as well as who can manage our security challenges. Nigeria is bleeding and there would be no need to sing any primordial feeling and interest. Nigeria needs the best.”
The applicant declared that anyone looking to be the president of the country must be prepared for an open election.
He said: “Anyone who is afraid of an open contest is not suitable to be president of Nigeria. That person is not president of the south or north alone, we are talking about the president of Nigeria. Then, we are asking for the best for Nigeria.”
Amid the rejection of the Zoning of the PDP by GBENGA HASHIM, some members in the FCT chapter also opposed the decision on Wednesday.
Around 170 parties interested in the territory, including the presidents of the Council and the Chamber, met in Abuja, where they announced their position.
The interested parties, which said they would prefer that the presidential candidate of the Center-Norte came, declared their support for Olawepo-Hashim.
“The national president himself said that the zoning does not mean that others cannot dispute. In the center-center we are completely behind Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim,” said one of the speakers, Chief Soko Dobo.
Responding, Olawepo-Hashim appreciated the leaders and supporters of the PDP for supporting it, giving them guarantees that they would not fail them.
He spoke more: “I have no intention of going back. No part can close its doors to the aspiration of any Nigerian. The center-norte has never produced a president or vice president, and it will be unfair to deny us the opportunity now.“
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