From Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart and 2021 Anambra State governorship aspirant, Ike Oligbo, has decried alleged move by the party to jettison equity and fairness in zoning its 2023 presidential ticket to the South East.
He cautioned that any attempt to impose another northern candidate on PDP “with a skewed manner with ridiculous logic that zoning is only for All Progressives Congress (APC)” could result in PDP suffering severe electoral misfortunes if the APC picks a candidate from the South, especially the South East.
Oligbo, a United Nations award-winning lawyer and business mogul, who spoke with newsmen in Awka, emphasised the need for PDP to take the strong feelings of party members in the South East into consideration before jettisoning the equity and fairness zoning formula which is categorically enshrined in the party’s constitution.
He said: “The South East has a lot of qualified and credible individuals that can stand in as both candidates for PDP and APC, and denying the South East the equitable and rightful chance to produce the next president of Nigeria by bringing up some ridiculous childish theories that the North still has four years under PDP is both uncharitable and condescending to PDP South East members.”
He, however, cautioned that such a move by PDP could give birth to anti-party activities resulting in the decimation of the party in the South East.
Oligbo, who is a major stakeholder, both in Anambra and diaspora, advised fellow PDP chieftains not to be in a hurry to discard the zoning system but allow more time for intra-party consultations and consensus in achieving the expected and desired equity for a presidential candidate from South East extraction in 2023.
“No ethnic group in Nigeria has federated Nigeria more than Ndigbo, consequently, Ndigbo’s right to be president of Nigeria should be respected,” he said.