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‘Party can’t be stampeded into 2023 zoning’

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By Ogochukwu Anioke, Abakaliki

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday said it cannot be stampeded by any member into taking any decision on zoning of 2023 presidential ticket.

It also said it was not rattled by the concerns and agitations by the Southeast over zoning.

Spokesperson for the PDP, Kola Ologbodiyan, stated this during an Arise TV morning talk show programme. He was reacting to a question on a comment credited to Ebonyi State Governor Dave Umahi that he was abandoning the opposition party for prevaricating on zoning the presidential slot.

Umahi was also said to have told the party national leadership that visited him in Abakaliki that his decision to cross over to the All Progress Congress was irrevocable.

The PDP spokesman noted that although the concerns  of the Southeast regarding  the position  was genuine, the party does not act on impulse.

Ologbodiyan  said:” The PDP was not rattled and we have never been rattled over the concerns being raised in the southeast”.

“The PDP is a structured political party. We have various organs and we are not a party belonging to one man from the North and another man from the South.

“Our decision processes have their courses and whatever the decision we are going to take as a political party, the PDP must take it round all the organs of the PDP.

“So, we don’t act on impulse in our party. And for us, we have not even gotten to the zoning of offices. So some of the things we are reading we consider them in the party as mere speculations.”

He also debunked reports that  Umahi told the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party that his decision to leave the party for APC was irrevocable.

“I was at the meeting and the governor never used the word irrevocable,” he added.

On the issues reported to have been raised by the governor,  Ologbondiya said the party would take a decision at the right time.

His words: “When the time comes, and all the variables are considered and all the issues are taken into consideration, the party will take its decision.  PDP is not a party that can be stampeded. We must get that clear.

“A decision as important as zoning of the number one position in the country is not something that can be decided at a sitting. It has to be taken around all the interests and organs of the party.

“We have started the discussion, but concerns are being raised and we are studying those concerns. And I believe all these will come into play at a point where we make those decisions, but as we speak, we have not reached that level.”

Umahi met with some APC stakeholders at the weekend  in his Uburu hometown, Ohaozara Local Government Area, where the adduced  reasons for his planned defection.

The governor told the  stakeholders that it was important to note that by 2023, Ndigbo would have served the PDP for over 20 years, adding that it was time “we started asking about the stake of the Southeast in Nigerian polity.”

“You cannot sing the Lord’s song in a strange land unless in Zion.”

Umahi said joining the APC will open up of a lot of opportunities for the Southeast.

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