Zoning risks dividing Nigeria – Olawepo-Hashim tells PDP

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Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, a former deputy publicity secretary for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has cautioned that the party’s choice to allocate its 2027 presidential ticket to the South may widen national rifts.

Olawepo-Hashim contended that zoning elective offices is discriminatory and unlawful in an interview with Arise TV.

“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 asserts that no political party in Nigerian history has ever officially prohibited candidates from running on the basis of their origins.

Recalling the 1999 elections, he claimed that although candidates from other zones were not disqualified, there was an unspoken consensus that the South-West should win the president following the annulment of the June 12 election.

“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.

Olawepo-Hashim emphasized that enforcing zoning laws could exacerbate tensions inside Nigeria.

“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.

He insisted that leadership and competency are more important to Nigerians than the president’s background.

“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 noted that, although coming from the South, President Bola Tinubu received the majority of his votes from the North in the most recent election.

“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 said.

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