PDP NEC Meets Today To Ratify Zoning Report Amid Rising Tensions

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will today (Monday) receive the report of its zoning committee at the 102nd National Executive Committee meeting in Abuja, even as tensions persist over the party’s planned national convention.

Naija News reports that the NEC session is billed for 2 pm and will consider the recommendations of the zoning committee chaired by Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, with Zamfara’s Dauda Lawal as vice chairman and Plateau’s Caleb Mutfwang as secretary.

Multiple party sources confirmed to Punch that the committee had recommended retention of the existing zoning formula, under which the North and South will continue to hold their current offices.

A member of the National Working Committee explained, “From the report we have seen, the zoning committee upheld the current zoning formula. The South has already micro-zoned its offices to the geopolitical zones, while the North will finalise its own arrangements after the NEC.”

At the PDP South stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos last Thursday, leaders allocated the Deputy National Chairman and National Publicity Secretary to the South-South, the National Secretary and National Auditor to the South-West, and the Deputy National Secretary and Financial Secretary to the South-East.

With the influence of Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, the National Secretary was micro-zoned to Oyo, while Akwa Ibom secured the Publicity Secretary slot.

The tenure of the current NWC, led by Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, will lapse in December.

To avoid fresh cracks, the 101st NEC had earlier approved November 15–16 as the date for the National Elective Convention, to be held in Ibadan, Oyo State.

Adamawa Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, will chair the Convention Committee, with Osun’s Ademola Adeleke as vice chairman and Enugu’s Peter Mbah as secretary.

Despite the preparations, controversy has trailed the zoning and convention arrangements. Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and former Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike, has warned that ignoring the outcome of the South-South Congress in Calabar could trigger a fresh crisis.

“Before you talk about the convention, resolve the matter. If the matter is not resolved, there will be a crisis,” Wike warned during a television interview on August 4.

Some southern leaders loyal to him, led by House Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, also rejected the Lagos micro-zoning meeting.

In contrast, PDP youth leaders from the 36 states and the FCT on Sunday declared total support for the NEC’s decisions on zoning and the Ibadan convention.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, the Forum of PDP Youth Leaders, chaired by Gombe State Youth Leader, Jamilu Kalshingi, said, “We are solidly with the leaders of our party as it concerns the coming convention and zoning of party offices. We support the zoning committee, we support the convention dates, and we assure Nigerians that nothing will stop it from holding.”

Kalshingi dismissed Wike’s stance, insisting, “The FCT Minister is just a member of the party, like any other member. The NEC and NWC have taken a decision, and nothing will change that.”

In a communiqué jointly signed by Kalshingi and the forum’s secretary, Boniface Brown, the youth leaders urged aggrieved members to remain in the party, stressing that the PDP remained a viable opposition capable of rescuing Nigeria from hardship under the All Progressives Congress.

They commended Damagum’s NWC, the BOT led by Senator Adolphus Wabara, and the PDP Governors’ Forum chaired by Bauchi Governor Bala Mohammed, for “strengthening unity and laying a solid foundation for the party’s future.”

As the NEC meets today, party leaders are banking on the adoption of the zoning report to steady the PDP ahead of its November convention, despite lingering internal divisions.