Cross River PDP caucus undecided on zoning

 

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Cross River State caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is still undecided on the issue of zoning.

This is as the state Chairman of the party, Mr. Venatius Ikem, insists the 2023 governorship race should not be zoned to any specific senatorial zone of the state.

The caucus, comprising prominent leaders of the party, including two former governors, Senator Liyel Imoke, Mr. Donald Duke, Senator Gershom Bassey, Senator Sandy Onor, Senator Bassey Ewa Henshaw, Senator Musa Adede and others, met two weeks ago but could not decide on the issue of zoning and the matter was carried forward.

Bassey, Henshaw and others stood for zoning while Onor, Adede and others stood against it.

However, in an interview with The Guardian at weekend, the state Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Ikem, said: “I still stand by zoning by elimination because it is what we have practised before. I don’t know why people are making a big deal out of it, maybe it is the usage of the word elimination but right now, the three senatorial districts are at par once again having exhausted the eight years, let me assume that Ayade will be there till the end of his eight years.

“Having exhausted that, the process we adopted in the first round was very clear where we contested and one person wins from a zone, that zone is taken as having produced their own. That is elimination, meaning you are not going to participate in the next round. In the next round of the contest, the same thing will apply and then the last person standing takes it without contention. There are just three senatorial districts, so it is not far-fetched to appreciate how it works out.”

On the recent caucus meeting in Calabar, he said: “We discussed more about zoning and there were counter arguments about it but for now I would say we have not closed the argument.”

So, I don’t want to be hasty to make any conclusive statement on that but I think the meeting concluded on a more mature note than when we started and I think people are going to have a better appreciation of where we stand than they did before the meeting.”