GEJ Campaign To IBB: You Are Misled By Court Judgement
ABUJA, Dec 08, (THEWILL) - The Director of Media and Publicity of the Goodluck/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr. Sully Abu, has said that there is no court order mandating the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to enforce its zoning principle contrary to claims by General Ibrahim Babangida in a letter addressed to the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo on Tuesday.
In a statement issued today and made available to THEWILL, Abu said that for over 3 months, the Mallam Adamu Ciroma-led Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) searched for a consensus candidate of a Northern extraction from among four candidates, which included General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, General Aliyu Gusau and Governor Bukola Saraki.
When Atiku Abubakar emerged as the consensus aspirant of the NPLF, IBB and two other aspirants accepted the verdict and pledged to give full support to the aspiration of Atiku.
Now, IBB is singing a totally new song. Abu referred to a letter addressed to the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, in which IBB restated the existence of rotation and zoning in the party’s constitution, and urged the National Chairman to enforce the principle.
Abu further said that if IBB and his cohorts had taken their time to read and understand the judgment, they would have seen that the judge, while accepting that zoning and rotation exist in the PDP constitution declared that the provision was too vague to be enforceable.
He added that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP had already taken the same position as that of the Abuja High Court. There is, therefore, nothing new to enforce. While zoning and rotation remain cardinal principles of the PDP, they, by no means vitiate the right of any person, from any part of the country, to contest.
Abu said that the Goodluck/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organization sympathises with IBB’s predicament adding that having lost to Atiku in their so-called consensus arrangement, he must have been thrown into confusion and desperation at the prospects of impending political oblivion. Clutching at the straw of zoning seems attractive to a drowning man. But regional jingoism is unsuited for a man who once held the highest office in the land, the statement said.
The GEJ Campaign advised IBB to learn to live with his changing political fortune and not further diminish himself by playing games, which only political novices should play. If he wants to go to another party, he does not need to blackmail anyone to do so. He should just go. The PDP has taken a decision on zoning and rotation; IBB can either live with it or leave the party.