Ohanaeze Ndigbo has sent a warning to the Peoples Democratic Party following reports that it has thrown open its 2023 presidential ticket.
Reacting on Wednesday, Ohanaeze said such a decision will be suicidal for the party.
The president general of Ohanaeze, Amb George A. Obiozor, stated this while reacting to the decision of the Governor Ortom-led PDP committee on zoning of the presidential ticket.
The committee is reported to have thrown the presidential ticket of the party open to all the aspirants from all parts of the country.
Obiozor, in a release by its national publicity secretary, Alex Ogbonnia, expressed worries on why PDP jettisoned zoning when ‘it is the turn of the South and particularly the South East of Nigeria’.
He said, “For purposes of clarity, rotation and zoning principle was engrained into the PDP constitution in 2009.
“Article 7 (2) (c) of the PDP Constitution states: ‘In pursuance of the principle of equity, justice and fairness, the party shall adhere to the policy of rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices, and it shall be enforced by the appropriate executive committee at all levels.’”
Obiozor therefore ‘deplored the unconscionable shifting of the goalpost at the middle of the game’.
According to him, “Such unscrupulous violation of the zoning principle that has been well entrenched in the PDP constitution simply changes the rules of the game in order to deprive Ndigbo the opportunity to produce a president for Nigeria.
“It is a political blunder and betrayal given what Ndigbo have suffered in our own country, and most recently for supporting the PDP.
“History has never been kind to betrayers and the treacherous. The machinations and conspiracies to deny Ndigbo their due place in Nigeria are an ingratitude that daily cries to God.”
He said Ohanaeze ‘stands on the position of the Southern and Middle Belt Leadership Forum, led by Chief E K Clark, that any party that does not zone its presidential ticket to the South should not expect the support of the Middle Belt and the entire South’.
Obiozor added that it was ‘curious that the PDP should commit political hara-kiri at a time it is struggling for a fresh air’.
Quoting him, “It is unfortunate that the PDP glomourises inordinate ambitions. Any political ambition that undermines nation building should be checkmated.
“One of the roles of a political party in a democracy is nation building and for the PDP to shirk its responsibilities is an unfortunate path to Golgotha.
“Let it be known that it runs contrary to the indomitable Igbo spirit to swallow any form of indignity, disdain or condescension from anybody or group.
“It is therefore highly inconceivable that the Igbo will validate a party or group that runs roughshod over its sensibilities.
“There is hardly any society that can develop amidst crises. Development is a product, an effect that arises from peace, unity and national coherence.
“On the other hand, the basics of peace, unity and sustainable national development is justice, equity and human dignity. To expect sustainable economic development rooted in injustice is mere shadow chasing.
“This is an irrepressible scientific, philosophical, historical and moral assertion that may be ignored at one’s peril.”
Amb Obiozor therefore urged all Igbo presidential aspirants ‘to remain focused and undaunted because of the PDP shenanigans’, adding that, “This is because history will always vindicate the just.”
