2023 Presidency: Cracks In APC Over ‘Open’ Ticket, As Southern Governors Weigh Options

There are more cracks in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over governors’ declaration that the 2023 presidential ticket is open to all party bigwigs across the six geo-political zones to contest.

Controversy is raging over zoning of the party’s presidential ticket and chairmanship between the North and the South ahead of the 2023 general poll.

Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) and Kebbi State Governor, Senator Atiku Bagudu, in a statement, last Friday, declared that all party members from all zones were free to contest any position in the next general election.

But credible sources in the APC confided in our correspondent on Monday in Abuja, that some APC governors and other party stalwarts were not comfortable with the development and may move against perceived forces behind the Kebbi governor’s speech. .

One of the sources said the governors, especially those from the South, were not comfortable with the statement alleging that there was no official meeting of the governors where the issue of zoning was extensively deliberated upon and decisions reached before the statement. Clandestine meetings began immediately after the statement, we learned

It was also learnt that some groups in the party were mobilising to revolt in the event the party’s “zoning formula” was jettisoned as they claimed the move was for the North to retain power. Some were for joining the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  enmass if only to teach the tin-gods in APC a political lesson.

Some stakeholders are arguing that power had resided in the North for a long time, and while the South-West had produced Olusegun Obasanjo as president for eight years, the South-South served for six years, hence the need to zone to the South-East for fairness and equity to prevail.