Ruling party to choose flagbearer from south

Nigeria’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said on Tuesday it would choose its presidential candidate for next year’s general elections from the south of the country. An official statement by the party secretariat said PDP would stick to the zoning principle which produced President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, despite indications from a number of members from the north they would vie for the party’s ticket. They include a onetime minister of communication, Abubakar Rimi and former PDP chairman, Barnabas Gemade. "Anyone notwithstanding this, who wishes to embark on a wild goose chase, takes a gamble at the risk of his reputation," Yohanna Madaki, the party’s legal adviser, said in the statement. The zoning arrangement adopted by the PDP was intended to redress a perceived imbalance whereby most of those who have ruled Nigeria since independence in 1960 have come from the predominantly Muslim north. A 1993 vote won by southwest businessman, Moshood Abiola, was annulled by the northern-dominated military plunging Nigeria into years of political crisis. Obasanjo, a Christian from southwest Nigeria, has already indicated his intention to seek a second term in office. His main challenger is expected to be Alex Ekwueme, a former civilian vice president in the early 1980s from the southeast. Ekwueme had lost the PDP nomination to Obasanjo in 1999. But some analysts expect him to present a stronger challenge at the party’s primaries in January, making the best of the disaffection with Obasanjo of key power brokers from the north who had supported him in the elections that ended more than 15 year’s of military rule more than three years ago. A total of 28 political parties have been registered to contest the general elections scheduled to hold between 29 March and 29 April next year.