Throw presidential tickets open, PDP youths tell party leaders
By Rasaq Adebayo
Ahead of the 2023 election, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, youths have tasked leaders and stakeholders of the party to throw open the presidential race to all zones.
This is even as the youths argued that the only way to come up with something acceptable is to make the ticket open to all six geo-political zones of the country.
It would be recalled that when the zoning committee of the PDP led by the Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwanyi, zoned the party offices last week, it said it was not mandated to zone the offices of the President, Vice President and other Executive and Legislative offices.
The zoning committee, in its communique, had said, “the mandate of the Committee does not include Zoning of the offices of the President, Vice President and other Executive and Legislative offices of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And the decision of the Committee to zone the Party offices does not in any way affect the executive and legislative offices in Nigeria.”
The youths under the aegis of South-South Youth Vanguard, in a statement by its National Chairman, James Efe Akpofure, said it was more beneficial for the party if the presidential position is thrown open than to zone it to a particular region.
The PDP Youth Vanguard said: “We are of the opinion that the only way the party can make an impact in 2023 is to allow everybody to participate in the presidential race. This will give us that opportunity to come back to power.
“As an opposition party, this is not the time to zone positions as such, it will work against the party. Let us win first before we talk of zoning positions. We should make the position open so that the best will emerge.”
