PDP CHIEFTAIN ADVISES JONATHAN ON 2011 PRESIDENTIAL POLL
PDP chieftain advises Jonathan on 2011 presidential poll
From ROSE EJEMBI, Makurdi
Friday, March 12, 2010
Goodluck
While agitations about who occupies Aso Villa in 2011 rages on, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has been advised to erase any idea that he would clinch the position. National Auditor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Samuel Orton, who gave this advice while speaking with newsmen in his Makurdi residence explained that the unwritten constitution of the party respects zoning at all levels.
'Zoning is in the unwritten constitution of the PDP. Everywhere we have it, even at the ward level. We respect zoning at the state and at the local government level.' He noted that even the acting president was aware of the zoning system that exists in the party, adding that since the south had the slot for eight years, it is just normal for the north to also complete its eight-year tenure.
'The acting president is a party man and he is quite conversant with the zoning arrangement that we did. So, there is no point trying to heat the polity for nothing.
'When PDP came into existence, the founding fathers sat and said look, we have zoned the presidency to the south and it was there for eight years. It is natural that when it comes to the north, it will be there for eight years.'
Orton also noted that the statement credited to the party's national chairman that power had to remain in the north for eight years was just a reminder of what obtains in the party.
'There is nothing hasty about that. What we did was just to clarify the situation. There is nothing new about it. There wasn't any new thing or new resolution on the matter. It has been there and we party men know it and I am sure that the acting president, being a party man himself knows this too.
'It is the same old stuff that the chairman only came out to say. We are still maintaining zoning. We have not reviewed any zoning formula anywhere. So, it's a normal thing,' the auditor said.