Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, former Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has faulted the party’s decision to zone the 2027 presidential ticket to the south.
Speaking in an interview with Arise TV, Olawepo-Hashim said zoning an elected political office is unconstitutional and discriminatory.
His words: “Well, my opposition to zoning the presidency is not because I want it to come to the north-central. I am doing so because it is against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The constitution does not permit any party to zone an elected political office, such as the president, on account of region. It is discriminatory. And this has never been done by any political party in Nigeria’s history.”
He recalled that in 1999, after the annulment of the June 12 election, there was an unwritten consensus that the presidency should go to the South-West to pacify agitations.
“But nobody from any other zone was precluded from contesting. Dr Alex Ekwueme contested from the South-East. Abubakar Rimi contested from the North-West. The leaders, in a mature manner, spoke through their delegates,” he said.
Olawepo-Hashim warned that enforcing zoning risks creating division among Nigerians.
“The danger in this kind of thing is that you pitch one section of the country against another, which is a very terrible low.
“Nigerians are not interested in where the president comes from. Nigerians want a competent president, a president who can fix the economy, a president who can fix national security, from any zone,” he said.
He also pointed to the 2023 election, saying President Bola Tinubu’s majority votes came from the north despite being from the south.
“He lost in Lagos. He struggled. That is to tell you that the Nigerian electorate is really not interested in what some political elites are trying to force on the agenda,” he stated.
