Zoning: Northern Elders Issue 2-Week Ultimatum To PDP

The build up to 2011 Presidential election has started brewing tension within political circles in Nigeria , as a group of northern leaders on Friday issued a two-week ultimatum to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on need to stop President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting in the 2011 election.

The northern leaders led by Mallam Adamu Ciroma had fired a memo to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which it accused of double-speak on the issue of zoning, warning that its failure to stop Jonathan from contesting the presidential election would plunge Nigeria into an unimaginable chao.

Alhaji Ciroma, Dr Iyiorcha Ayu, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, Alhaji Bello Kirfi, Ambassador Yahaya Kwande and Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim signed the memo on behalf of northern elders.

They, however, asked the PDP to specifically issue a declaration restraining Jonathan from contesting in the 2011 presidential election, and on the other hand, declare the 2011 as the exclusive preserve of the North, in line with the existing zoning formula in operation within the party.

The elders stated strongly that Jonathan had no right to contest in the next presidential election, the position having been clearly zoned to the North by the PDP through its constitution, wondering why the party ever dared to encourage the president to take the northern slot after eight years of Obasanjo’s presidency.