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Why PDP Should Zone 2023 Presidency To The North – Kwankwaso

Former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has kicked against the call for zoning the 2023 presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Southern part of Nigeria.


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A file photo of the PDP logo.

Former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has explained why the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should zone its 2023 presidential ticket to the northern part of the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s constitutional two-term tenure will elapse by 2023, and there have been a series of debates as to which zone should produce the next President.

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Kwankwaso said the decision to contest should be based on strategy rather than mere clamour or sentiments.

Former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso speaks during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics on January 9, 2022.

 

He equally gave an insight as to why the main opposition party should give the northern region the chance to select its flagbearer in next year’s general elections.

READ ALSO: I Have No Regret Supporting Ganduje To Be Governor, Says Kwankwaso

“You see many people are mixing what ordinarily shouldn’t come together at all,” the former governor said. “We have PDP, we have APC, we have APGA and we have many other parties today in this country.

“And the issue of where a party puts its presidency or vice presidency is a matter of strategy. If you look at it from 1999 to date, or even after 2023, we have 16 years for PDP, eight years for APC.”

He explained further, “In the 16 years of PDP, we had a situation where the presidency has been in the South for 14 years and only in the North for two years during the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua of blessed memory.

“Now, we see some people – maybe because they don’t understand politics or they want to be mischievous, they keep on mixing the two issues of two political parties together. These PDP and APC are contestants in this game.”

Kwankwaso also faulted the demand of the Southern Governors Forum in July that the next president of the country must come from their region.

According to him, the call by the governors and other leaders is an attempt to intimidate the northern region into relinquishing its right to contest the highest office in the land.