The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State has chosen to have its governorship candidate for the upcoming election selected from the southern region of the state.
The party decided to follow this direction after Lucky Aiyedatiwa became governor for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Aiyedatiwa is from the southern part, and most APC candidates are also from there.
The spokesperson for the state PDP, Kennedy Peretei, said having a candidate from the south is popular right now, and it wouldn’t be smart to go against that.
This decision was confirmed at a party meeting in Akure, the capital of Ondo State.
“We have held several meetings at different levels where the idea of zoning to the south was discussed, but on Friday we decided to brief other levels of the party leadership on the present situation.
“We are aware that the party constitution does not categorically provide for zoning. However, we know that to decide otherwise would be going against the tide,” Mr Peretei said.
He said the ruling APC already had a governor from the south who would be contesting in the coming election, noting that it was only pragmatic for the party to go southwards.
“If you look at what is going on, you will realise that the feeling is that the next governor should come from the south, and we needed to brief the stakeholders on this so they don’t start reading it on the pages of newspapers and the social media,” Mr Peretei added.
