Fact Check: Has PDP Truly Thrown 2023 Presidential Ticket Open to All Zones?

Claim: A report published by Nigerian Tribune claims the PDP has thrown open the presidency to all the zones in the country.

Verdict:

The report is misleading. The PDP is yet to take a decision regarding its 2023 presidential ticket.

Full Text

Ahead of the 2023 elections, political parties in Nigeria, especially the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to zone their presidential tickets to the southern region.

The Southern Governors' Forum and other groups in the south, Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, etc., have all been at the forefront of the agitation for the southern presidency.

On Friday, October 8, Nigerian Tribune published a report claiming that Nigeria's lead opposition party, the PDP, has decided to throw its presidential ticket open to all the six geopolitical zones in the country, rather than zone it to the south alone.

The report follows the meeting of the PDP's National Executive Council (NEC) meeting which was held on Thursday, October 7, in Abuja.

Verification

To confirm the veracity of the story, Legit.ng checked through the story to confirm the PDP sources who announced on behalf of the opposition party the claim reported by the Nigerian Tribune.

It was, however, discovered that the story contained little or nothing regarding the claim made in the headline.

Rather, the report was mainly about the northern caucus of the PDP NEC meeting to deliberate on how to fill the party's national chairmanship seat which had earlier been allocated to the north.

The report further cited an anonymous source as claiming that the northern caucus "did not discuss the decision of PDP NEC throwing open the presidency to all the six geopolitical zones in the country."

There was no part of the story where it was expressly stated that the PDP has thrown its 2023 presidential ticket open to all zones.

For further verification, Legit.ng conducted a relevant keywords search on the PDP's alleged throwing of the presidential ticket open to all zones.

From the search, Legit.ng discovers that the alleged throwing of the presidential ticket open to all zones was not reported by any other reputable news media in the country.

According to Premium Times, the PDP at the NEC meeting on Thursday "kept mum on where to zone its presidential ticket".

The newspaper stated further:

"Arguably the most trending issues in the country’s political space, the PDP, again at its 94th National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Thursday, dodged discussion on the issue.

"Briefing journalists after the meeting, the party’s spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the NEC only considered and approved the recommendations of the 44-member committee on zoning of national officers."

Also, The Punch reported what Ologbondiyan said when asked whether the issue of zoning of the 2023 presidential ticket was discussed and what decision was arrived at.

Here is Ologbondiyan, according to the newspaper:

“The issue of the Governor Bala Mohammed Committee came up and it was resolved that it should be deferred till another NEC meeting. Today’s meeting was to consider the Ugwuanyi committee report and that was what he did.”

The Cable equally reported Ologbondiyan as saying that the PDP is yet to take a decision on the zoning of the presidential ticket.

Conclusion

The report by Nigerian Tribune with the headline claiming the PDP has thrown its 2023 presidential ticket open to all zones is misleading.

Though the PDP NEC met on Thursday, no decision was taken on the zoning of the presidential ticket.

PDP stakeholders push for David Mark

Meanwhile, there are indications former Senate president, David Mark, could emerge as the next chairman of PDP.

Immediately after the zoning committee’s announcement, some stakeholders reached out to Mark to consider leading the opposition party.

Nevertheless, it was gathered that his candidacy does not sit well with some party leaders who feel aggrieved with the zoning.

Source: Legit.ng