FORMER president and chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT, of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo declared, yesterday, that zoning of public offices in the party was “alive and kicking”, just as he said that the accident of history that threw up President Goodluck Jonathan as the PDP presidential candidate must be understood.
Obasanjo said Jonathan should be commended for agreeing to do one term if elected in the April general elections, to assuage the bitterness of the pro-zoning elements, saying the president should be encouraged to stick to the vow.
Speaking in Abuja during the campaign 2011 grand finale of the Jonathan/ Namadi Sambo ticket, the former president called on Nigerians to vote the PDP presidential ticket at the polls as that holds the key to actualising the Nigerian dream.
The former president, who said the emergence of Jonathan as the PDP presidential candidate must not be seen as a violation of the zoning and federal character principle of the party, stressed that the exigencies of the moment made it imperative that the president emerged as the party’s candidate.
Obasanjo said the dream of the PDP is that of growing the country, pointing out that there was no going back. He stressed that the party is the only one in the country which recognizes federal character in line with the nation’s constitution.
The view of the former president on zoning came barely seven days to the general elections and months after Jonathan emerged as the PDP presidential candidate which generated controversies especially from key party members in the north, even as it led to the formation of the Mallam Adamu Ciroma-led Northern Political Leaders Forum, NPLF, which has since made the issue a burning one in national discourse.
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