NEWS ANALYSIS: APC presidential ticket may go to South-West. Here’s why

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) may have finally settled the contentious issue of which part of the country it would zone its presidential ticket to for the 2023 election.

After dilly dallying on a date for its national convention, the party finally settled on March 26 for the event to pick officers to occupy its National Working Committee (NWC) which seats have been empty since the last national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole and his team were sacked.

At a meeting on Tuesday, between President Muhammadu Buhari and APC governors at the Presidential Villa, the party leaders took a decision on the national offices of the party, and also agreed to pick a national chairman via consensus.

The party leaders zoned the NWC offices between the north and the southern region by agreeing to swap offices held in the last dispensation by one region to the other region.

Consequently, the post of national chairman held by Oshiomhole, a southerner, in the last dispensation was zoned to the north. Effectively, this means the presidential ticket of the party will go to a southerner, as the president and national chairman usually cannot come from the same region.

According to its zoning formula, and the swap arrangement, the major national offices have been shared among the political zones as follows:

1. National Chairman (North-Central),
2. Deputy National Chairman (North-West)
3. Deputy National Chairman (South-East)
4. National Secretary (South-West)
5. National Organising Secretary (North-East)
6. National Publicity Secretary (South -South)

This arrangement suggests that the party has also zoned the two offices of Deputy National Chairman to the North-West and South-East, effectively putting these political zones in a disadvantaged position in the contention for APC’s presidential ticket.

If this arrangement subsists, the only zones left in the south to make a fight for the party’s presidential tickets are the South-West and the South-South. This would only happen if the entire South agrees to such an arrangement, as the party structure has been bedeviled by fractures, with disenchantments among its members.

However, there are also speculations that the party may have tactically zoned its presidential ticket to the south-west, given the list flying around on the sharing of national offices. According to the list, every zone has ten national offices allocated to it, except for the south- west which has nine. The question everyone is asking is: Why?

Could this have been purposely done to include the office of the president as its tenth slot?

See below, the zoning of its national offices.

South-South:
(Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers States)
1. National Vice Chairman (SS)
2. National Publicity Secretary
3. National Women Leader
4. Deputy National Treasurer
5. Deputy National Welfare Secretary
6. Zonal Secretary
7. Zonal Youth Leader
8. Zonal Organizing Secretary
9. Zonal Women Leader
10. Zonal Special (Persons with Disability- PWD) Leader

South-West:
(Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo States)
1. National Secretary
2. National Vice Chairman (South-West)
3. National Youth Leader
4. Deputy National Auditor
5. Zonal Secretary
6. Zonal Youth Leader
7. Zonal Organizing Secretary
8. Zonal Women Leader
9. Zonal Special (Persons with Disability- PWD) Leader

South-East:
(Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo States)
1. Deputy National Chairman (S)
2. National Vice Chairman (SE)
3. National Treasurer
4. National Welfare Secretary
5. Deputy National Organizing Secretary
6. Zonal Secretary
7. Zonal Youth Leader
8. Zonal Organizing Secretary
9. Zonal Women Leader
10. Zonal Special (Persons with Disability- PWD) Leader

Read also: ANALYSIS: 5 top politicians who will shape the APC ahead of 2023

North-East:
(Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe States)
1. Deputy National Chairman (N)
2. National Auditor
3. National Vice Chairman (NW)
4. Deputy National Financial Secretary
5. Deputy National Women Leader
6. Zonal Secretary
7. Zonal Youth Leader
8. Zonal Organizing Secretary
9. Zonal Women Leader
10. Zonal Special (Persons with Disability- PWD) Leader

North-Central:
(Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, and Plateau States)
1. National Chairman
2. National Vice Chairman (NC)
3. Deputy National Secretary
4. Deputy National Legal Adviser
5. Deputy National Publicity Secretary
6. Zonal Secretary
7. Zonal Youth Leader
8. Zonal Organizing Secretary
9. Zonal Women Leader
10. Zonal Special (Persons with Disability- PWD) Leader

North-West:
(Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara States)
1. National Vice Chairman (NW)
2. National Legal Adviser
3. National Organizing Secretary
4. National Financial Secretary
5. Deputy National Youth Leader
6. Zonal Secretary
7. Zonal Youth Leader
8. Zonal Organizing Secretary
9. Zonal Women Leader
10. Zonal Special (Persons with Disability – PWD) Leader

Crises over?

It might be too early to conclude that APC has weathered the storm with its zoning arrangements made public.

Picking a date for its national convention was an herculean task, even as proposals for zonal congresses have been received with rejections with some members already threatening to go to court, and arguing that the move is alien to the party’s constitution.

So far, the party seems to be more inclined to pick its officials via consensus, and there is no saying what this would lead to, as many have also expressed opposition to this method.

With the present arrangement, the governors seem to wield so much power to determine who gets what, the reason they may be championing the consensus option to pick party officials, knowing full well this would give them access to pick their stooges, to enable them retain control of the party structures in their states and zones to get what they want.

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