In this report written and compiled by seven seasoned journalists from the Punch stable, the Sunday Punch says the unexpected emergence of Professor Yemi Osinbajo as the running mate to APC presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari has changed the calculations and permutations of the two major political parties in the country, the ruling PDP and the opposition APC. Both parties are reported to have gone back to the drawing board to thinker with their position zoning arrangements.
Below is how Sunday Punch reports the story:
The country’s two major political parties the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Party have kick-started a realignment of forces in order to upstage each other in the forthcoming 2015 presidential election.
The realignment is said to be one of the fallouts of the emergence of Professor Yemi Osinbajo as the vice- presidential candidate of the APC on Wednesday.
Both parties, SUNDAY PUNCH learnt, might have changed their zoning formula to ensure that the selection of Osinbajo would not hurt their chances at the polls.
Osinbajo, a former Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, is a native of Ikenne, Ogun State in the South-West. His wife, Dolapo, is a granddaughter of the first Premier of the Western Region and foremost Yoruba politician, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
It was learnt that the PDP was jolted by the APC’s choice of Osinbajo as the running mate of its presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)
Following the zoning of the APC vice presidential ticket to the South-West, the ruling party is said to have revisited its zoning formula. The plan, sources say, is to zone some of the top positions in government to the zone as part of measures to woo the region in the 2015 presidential election.
SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that besides the speakership of the House of Representatives, which the PDP reportedly agreed to zone to the South-West, the party also, planned to cede some key positions to the zone.
But even as the PDP makes its move, the APC is also said to have gone back to the drawing board to ensure that the selection of Osinbajo by Buhari does not affect its fortunes in the South -South and South-East.
SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that the APC might zone the Senate Presidency and the Speakership of the House of Representatives, to the South-East and the South-South, if it wins the 2015 elections. The two regions were being considered for the posts because the North and South-West have the President and Vice-President slots.
While Jonathan is widely believed to enjoy massive support in the two regions, some of the APC’s most prominent powerbrokers, including a former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, and Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State are from the two regions.
Amaechi was one of those considered for the vice-presidential slot before Osinbajo was selected and Okorocha had contested for the presidential ticket and lost to Buhari.
A change in the formula might also be a plan by the party to ensure that members of the two parties from these regions are given a sense of belonging.
A chieftain of the APC, who pleaded anonymity, said even though the zoning of positions was yet to be finalised, leaders of the party have agreed on a new arrangement in principle.
He said, “Apart from the Senate Presidency and the Speakership of the House of Representatives, there is also the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and key ministries that can be given to the zone that didn’t get the President and VP slot.”
Also speaking to our correspondent, the South-East Zonal Publicity Secretary of the APC, Osita Okechukwu, said the PDP might not be able to get as many votes as it got during the 2011 elections.
He said, “We will stop the jumbo votes they (PDP) give themselves in these areas. In 2011, General Muhammadu Buhari did not have agents in these places; today the mega platform that we have, which is the APC, has the capacity and will deploy agents there.
“For example, in Imo there were about 1.4 million voters, they claimed that 1.3 million voted for Jonathan, meaning there was over 90 per cent voters turn out which has never happened anywhere in the world.
“In Rivers, out of about 1.9 million voters, they claimed 1.8m voted for Jonathan. This kind of turnout was not recorded in Kano or even Lagos. People are wiser now. We will not allow this kind of fraud this time around.”
Prior to now, there have been complaints from some stalwarts of the PDP that President Goodluck Jonathan had marginalised the South-West in his appointments. Jonathan is from the South-South while his deputy, Nnamadi Sambo is from the North–West. The Senate President is from North-Central while the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, hails from the North-West.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Deputy Senate President and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives are from the South-East.
Although the PDP zoned the speakership of the House to the South-West in 2011, its candidate, Mrs. Mulikat Akande-Adeola, lost to Tambuwal.
SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that the president’s move to pacify the South-West which voted massively for Jonathan in the 2011 was the reason he held meetings with some Yoruba leaders recently.
President Jonathan had at the Yoruba Unity Summit in Ile-Ife, Osun State on November 28, 2014, reportedly said it pained him that the South-West lost the speakership in 2011.
He had said, “The last time, it was difficult for me because I insisted that the Southwest must get the Speaker. Of course, I couldn’t go through with it because some of us within the Southwest didn’t want it, based on some personal reasons. I am still suffering from that till today.”
According to 2011 election statistics, the South-West which had 14.29m registered voters was second to the North-West, which had 19.8 million registered voters.
North-Central had 11.62 million voters, while 10.7 million people registered as voters in the North-East. South-East and South-South had 7.02 million and 8.9 million voters respectively.
The Chairman of the PDP in Ekiti State, Mr. Idowu Faleye, said the President planned to give appointments to the Yoruba if he wins in 2015.
“Jonathan is going give more key positions to the region. Looking at the percentage of votes captured in the last election, even he was shocked that the Yoruba did the best they could at that time,” he said.
However, the Chairman, Organisation and Mobilisation Committee of the PDP in the South-West, Buruji Kashamu, said Jonathan had compensated the South-West for the loss of the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives zoned to the South-West by appointing someone from the region as his Chief of Staff.
“If they (APC) like, they can choose their presidential candidate, the vice presidential and all their governorship candidates from the South-West. The only thing that I know is that APC is a one-man show. We, the Yoruba, are not dull and foolish. We know what is good for us,” he said.
Credit: Sunday Punch
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