|
Listen to article
|
The Board of Trustee (BoT) Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Walid Jubrin, yesterday revealed that there was no official request from the South-East PDP for the presidential ticket of the party.
He explained that the zoning of offices within the party is a procedural issue; however, he stated that ‘if the South-east caucus of the PDP asked that the presidential ticket be zoned to it, I don’t see anyone opposing it or denying the zone such request.’
Read Also: Obi, Secondus, Okonkwo, Anenih, Storm Awka For PDP Reception
The issue of Igbo Presidency comes 2023, and has been on the front burner in the political spheres owing to the fact that no Igbo man has ruled Nigeria in a democratic setting after the independence of 1960. Many groups have been agitating that the two major political parties in Nigeria secedes her presidential ticket to South-East.
Currently the governor of Ebonyi state of PDP is concluding plans to decamp to APC pegging his decision on PDP not being straightforward enough on zoning the presidency to the South East. Umahi who is the a former Chairman of Ebonyi State PDP before his becoming the governor in 2015 seems to have the support of Ebonyi state PDP stakeholders who once gave the PDP a seven days ultimatum to announce the zoning of the presidential ticket to South-East or risk losing all of them to the APC. This move has aroused mix feeling among both APC members and PDP in South East.
Jubrin, speaking further on the quest for the presidential ticket of the party, said: ‘Our preoccupation with the PDP now is to ensure the unity of the party because if there is no unity within the party, nobody will talk of the presidential ticket. There must be unity first. You don’t count the chicken before the eggs are hatched. Unity of the PDP is the main thing now.’
He however said the party would not pretend not to be unaware of the agitation of the party in the Southeast that the presidential ticket be zoned to it in 2023.
According to him, “What we have heard is merely side talks. There is no official request from the South-east zone that the office of the presidential candidate should come from the zone. What we are reading is just a newspaper report.
‘If they ask, who will deny them the request? I envy them. The South-east has remained a strong ally of the PDP right from inception. But what I’m saying now is that it is too immature to ask for it now. This is not the time.’
When reminded that the APC has already promised the Southeast geopolitical zone the presidential ticket of the party, he quickly chipped in: “What will the APC not promise to any one or zone? The question is which of the APC’s promises has been kept? This is the question the zone should worry itself about.
‘Any promise from the APC should be seen as a Greek gift because they are never realistic.’
‘I’m just back from Anambra State where I witnessed the inauguration of the chairman of the PDP in the state. The crowd was huge. If we play our game properly, I can tell you that the next governorship election in the state would be won by the PDP. What is happening now is that we have stayed in opposition enough and this is the time for the PDP to go back to the Government House in Awka.’
THE EASTERN UPDATES
