APC: Fear Of Zoning And Lessons From Anambra

The All Progressives Congress, APC was last Wednesday embarrassed after a list purported to reflect the zoning intentions of the party ahead of the 2023 General Election surfaced online.

According to the zoning prescriptions, the APC had zoned the office of president to the South, the vice-president to the North, Senate President to the South and Speaker of the House of Representatives to the North. For the party positions, the party was also supposed to have zoned the office of National Chairman to the North and the National Secretary to the South.

On first sight it looked plausible, except that those who DESIGNED the list forgot that microzoning actually follows the zoning of the two principal offices of state, that is, the president and vice-president.

Remarkably, the zoning permutations were taken up by some serious media channels before the secretary of the party’s Caretaker Committee, Dr. John James Akpanudoedehe rushed to disown the zoning list.

Dr. Akpanudoedehe’s denunciation of the list was logical to the intent that he confessed that the caretaker committee was not in a position to zone the offices as was done in the viral list; especially, when the president was still abroad having his rest cum medical vacation.

The embarrassment that the APC faced is one that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has endured since 2019. Those who want to nibble at the PDP like Dave Umahi did before leaving the party last year, raise it again and again.

APC: Zoning Not Unique To Ruling Party

Since the advent of the Fourth Republic, zoning is something that has always been approached with caution by the major political parties. While some of them may preach it, and claim a spirit of inclusiveness, approaching the matter of zoning is always done with discretion.

In fact, even after party leaders informally decree that an office has been zoned people from outside the zone show interest, pay the millions for the zoned office, and partake.

In 1999, despite that the PDP had informally zoned the presidency to the South, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi contested for the presidency and lost.

In 2007 when the PDP was set to shift the presidency to the North, Dr. Peter Odili almost ‘bought’ the ticket until Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and others stepped in to stop him.

The founders of the APC had as we now know had reached a gentleman agreement on Muhammadu Buhari becoming president for two terms and thereafter power would shift South.

So, when the likes of Atiku Abubakar and Kwankwaso joined the party, the machine of the new party was already configured for Buhari’s victory.

However, that did not stop Governor Rochas Okorocha from contesting. For that insubordination it is alleged that he may never be forgiven and it is not surprising the troubles that have shadowed him everywhere since leaving office.

While Buhari has frankly spoken up of a gentleman’s agreement reached between him and Tinubu at the formation of the APC, and despite the growing chorus in the North from APC leaders for power to shift South, the prospect of that happening increasingly looks dim.

Indeed, there are some few APC stakeholders who even dream of the APC giving its presidential ticket to the Southeast. It is a dream that is easily rebutted by some who say that a party that cannot trust a geopolitical zone with the office of Comptroller General of Civil Defence will not bequeath the zone with the office of Commander-in-Chief!

Indeed, with the way the present APC Federal Government cum party leadership goes about its ways, it is easy for one to predict that after giving its intentions to shift to the South, that the promise would be broken as it ponders the intentions of the opposition PDP.

The APC will break its promise to the South given the unhidden determination by the PDP to pick its next candidate from the quartet of Atiku Abubakar, Aminu Tambuwal, Bukola Saraki and Rabiu Kwankwaso.

With that prospect, the APC would now abandon whatever permutations it would have on the likes of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Dr. Kayode Fayemi among others.

APC Zoning Permutations Playing Out In Anambra

Meanwhile the contestation over zoning will first be played out in Anambra as the major parties choose their candidates for the November governorship election.

Many gladiators from Anambra South which last had a governor in the person of Dr. Chinwoke Mbadiniju between 1999 and 2003 are arguing that those from other zones should leave the race.

Senator Uche Ekwunife who is from Anambra South but married to Anambra Central and represents the zone may have temporarily turned her back on her in-laws to answer her father’s name!

But the logic and the evidence on ground seems to be working against the zone.

Those who debunk the argument for zoning in Anambra say that political actors from Anambra South had in the past contested the primaries of the major political parties and sometimes emerged as candidates.

It is now becoming clear that the ticket of the major could go to any senatorial zone, North, Central or South, the exception being that of the UPP which has zoned its ticket to Senator Ifeanyi Ubah.

What is happening in Anambra is what could play out in the country in 2023, God willing. That is, that the candidates that emerge would be based on clout and not the colour of the cloth they wear.

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