A former national vice-chairman in the South-West zone of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Bode George has opened up on why his party will not restrict its presidential ticket to any particular zone.
George made this assertion on Monday during a live interview on AriseTV.
While he admitted that the party was in approval of a rotational Presidency amongst the six geo-political zones, George revealed that the stakeholders will give everyone the opportunity to contest for elective positions.
“The PDP has not jettisoned the rotational presidency; what the stakeholders did was to give everyone the opportunity to participate.
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“Pre-1999, the founding fathers of the PDP (Bola Ige and Ekwueme) decided to redress the major challenge bedeviling the country which led to the division into the six geo-political zones in tandem with the six top political posts in order to ensure inclusiveness.
“The founders predicted a scenario whereby another party might not follow the arrangement; I was also checked to hear about a zoning committee within the PDP.
“Though President Muhammadu Buhari is not from the PDP, he is from the North; this informed the questions and the major problem to be tackled by the PDP which would be redressed.
“We cannot tell people that zoning is going to be jettisoned but because the new parameters did not consider a scenario of another party voting a candidate from another region, it will require a lot of discussions with stakeholders.
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“I have been proposing that this mandate must be enshrined within the party’s constitution in order to prevent future issues.
“The majority of people are the electorate who will eventually decide who the President is.”
Regarding the issue of the defection of Dr. Abdul-Azeez Adediran aka ‘Jandor’ from the All Progressives Congress, amidst reports of an imposition, George said, “We are not like the other party that has a kingmaker who foists his mandate on the electorates; there are procedures in the PDP that must be adhered to. The elective positions are wide open and anyone who wants to join should desist from claiming he is an anointed one.
“Anyone talking about Jandor endorsement is talking nonsense; the PDP does not condone the imposition of candidates.”