By Ben Agande

ABUJA — The zoning of the chairmanship position in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has sharply divided members of the party, with some leading stakeholders vowing to hold a parallel convention should the chairmanship position be zoned to the North-East.

The disagreement came to a head, Tuesday, when the meeting of the committee on the zoning of positions in the party was stalemated and adjourned indefinitely.

Party sources told Vanguard that associates of the incumbent chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, were bringing pressure on all to zone the office to the North-East.

According to sources in the party, while a few governors in the party want the chairmanship position zoned to the North-East, other members of the party, including some on the Board of Trustees, BoT, are opposed to this position and have vowed to organize a parallel convention, if the position is zoned to the North-East.

The sources said the decision by the Governor Udom Emmanuel-led committee on zoning to retain the position in the North-East has pitched the committee against some major forces in the party, who believe that zoning the position to the North-East was just a formula to allow the incumbent to retain the position.

According to a member of the BoT, the selection of members of the zoning committee is carefully done to ensure that the zoning favoured the incumbent chairman, Senator Ali Sheriff.

“We are aware of the intrigues going on but we will not allow that to happen. We know that some governors, especially that of Ekiti State, are working hard to retain the zoning to the North-East.

“What he failed to understand is that the party took a decision long time ago to zone the Presidency to the North and the party chairman to the South-West.

“How can the President and the party chairman come from the same zone? It is not going to work. We in the South-West are ready to take what belongs to us and we will not trade our right for a pot of porridge,” the member, who does not want to be identified, said.