Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has criticized the party’s reported move to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South, warning that such a decision could heighten divisions across the country.
Speaking during an interview on Arise TV, Olawepo-Hashim described the zoning of elective offices as both unconstitutional and discriminatory, stressing that it undermines the principles of equity and legality.
“My opposition to zoning the presidency is not because I want it to come to the North-Central. I am against it because it goes 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,” he said.
Olawepo-Hashim argued that no political party in Nigeria’s democratic history has ever formally barred aspirants based on their geographic origin. Citing historical precedence, he recalled the 1999 general elections when, despite an informal consensus to support a candidate from the South-West following the annulled June 12 election, aspirants from other regions were not excluded from contesting.
“Dr. Alex Ekwueme from the South-East contested. Abubakar Rimi from the North-West also contested. The leaders, in a mature manner, allowed delegates to make the final choice,” he explained.
He warned that enforcing zoning as party policy risks pitting regions against one another and worsening national unity.
“The danger in this kind of thing is that you pitch one section of the country against another, which is a very terrible low,” he warned.
Olawepo-Hashim further insisted that Nigerians are more focused on the capacity of presidential candidates than their geopolitical identity.
“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.
Using the 2023 presidential election as an example, he noted that President Bola Tinubu, though a southern candidate, drew his strongest electoral support from the northern region.
“He lost in Lagos. He struggled there. That shows you that the Nigerian electorate is not carried away by what some political elites are trying to push,” Olawepo-Hashim added.
