The former Senate Leader and Secretary of the 2018 All Progressives Congress (APC) National Convention Planning committee, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba SAN has pick holes in the zoning of some offices for the March 26th 2022 National Convention of the party. Speaking in an interview with The Nation Newspaper in Calabar, Ndoma-Egba argued that going by the lists made public as the approved zoning list for national offices, he has not seen the reflections of strategic objectives which ought to be the case.
He said in zoning, there must be a reflection of strategic objectives. “You should know and have what you want to achieve”, he said. “It should not just be the simplistic approach or manner of moving offices from one zone to another zone. You should be more strategic by considering how you can use offices that are very strategic to strengthen zones that are weak. Because at the end of the day, whoever the candidate of the party is, will require to win in those other weak zones or get, at least, one quarter of the votes cast in some of those states.”
He cited example over his argument with the instance of the National Secretary position, saying, “You say you are taking it to the south west; the South west is already very strong to deliver for APC. It is perhaps the strongest zone for APC perhaps, in addition to the North. The North and the South west are the strongest parts with supports for the APC. So looking at the South west where the National secretary is being purportedly zoned to, you already have a Vice President from the zone; you have the Speaker of the House of Representatives, you have five APC governors in the zone and then you have the Jaganban himself who is more than a zone. So the South West is already satiated with strength that can deliver for the APC. Giving them the strategic position of National Secretary adds nothing to them. It is like pouring a glass of water into a river”.
Speaking further, he said “For instance, the South east has two governors in Ebonyi and Imo states. Ebonyi governor is second term governor that is outgoing. Imo state is a first term governor and has an incumbency advantage as we go into the 2023 election. So in the South east you can say the party has a toe-hold, not yet a foothold; just a toe-hold. Then you come to the South-south, the only state with any toe-hold in the south-south for the APC is Cross River State. Recently we had by-elections in the State. That is the Akpabuyo State constituency and the Ogoja –Yala Federal constituency by- election.
“The figures put together showed a very narrow margin of the winning which the APC secured. So it means if we must retain Cross River State in the next election, you need to reinforce and strengthen the state with strategic positions.
Ordinarily if you ask me of the strategic objectives with the position of a Secretary, I would advise it be given to the southeast or the southsouth. But like I said, the southeast has a first term governor who has the incumbency advantage going into the 2023 elections.
The south south doesn’t have such advantage, the only APC Governor is doing is final term; so give it to the south-south and strengthen the zone strategically. Use it to reinforce the south-south.” However Ndoma-Egba expressed confidence that the March 26th APC convention will hold successfully despite the storms which he said, are normal during convention period.