PDP Zoning Principle Not Applicable To Presidency, Governorship – Jonathan

PHOTO R-L: PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN HOLDS A COPY OF THE PDP CONSTITUTION DURING AN INTERACTIVE SESSION WITH JOURNALISTS AT THE PDP NATIONAL SECRETARIAT IN ABUJA, TODAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2010. WITH JONATHAN IS VICE PRESIDENT NAMADI SAMBO.

ABUJA, Sept 27, (THEWILL) - In the face of wild allegations that his 2011 presidential ambition was causing confusion within the polity, President Goodluck Jonathan today said that proponents of zoning of the office of president are not correct.

Speaking officially for the first time on the controversial issue, Jonathan reasoned that the concept of zoning and rotation of political offices as enshrined in the constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] was limited to offices that were within the absolute control of the party such as party’s executive offices.

The president who spoke at the national secretariat of the ruling PDP when he submitted his presidential nomination forms was accompanied by a retinue of party big wigs and about nine governors who are seeking second term in office.

The entourage included former Information Minister, Prof Jerry Gana; Senator Jonathan Zwingina; former Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees [BoT], Chief Tony Anenih; two former National Chairmen of the party, Colonel Amodu Ali and Prince Vincent Ogbulafor.

Governors on the entourage of the president to the PDP headquarters were Liyel Imoke [Cross River]; Ibrahim Shema [Katsina]; Aliyu Akwe Doma [Nasarawa]; Danbaba Suntai [Taraba]; Isa Yuguda [Bauchi]; Alao Akala [Oyo]; Sullivan Ckime [Enugu), Segun Oni [Ekiti] and Ikedi Ohakim [Imo].

Jonathan was received by the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr Okwesileze Nwodo in his office along with other members of the National Working Committee [NWC].

President Jonathan who displayed high confidence over his presidential ambition, said the norm in the party was that issues of zoning of other elective offices such as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, among other key offices, would come up only after the president and his vice had emerged.

Arguing further that the concept of zoning as put in place by PDP was being turned upside down for cheap political advantage, Jonathan observed that some of the presidential aspirants that were currently heightening the zoning controversy could not have shown interest in the presidency in 2003 and 2007 if actually the arrangement was watertight as being presently interpreted.

Jonathan also gave a vivid example of the present game being played out in Kwara State where the younger sister of Governor Bukola Saraki is aspiring to succeed his brother in office as governor as well as the fact that there were more southerners in the presidential race in 2007 as examples that PDP’s zoning arrangement did not include president and governors.

He said: "Either by virtue of the PDP Constitution, or in practice, the presidency of Nigeria has never been zoned to any part of the country. It has never been zoned or maybe I would read some sections of our own constitution too. There is the concept of zoning and rotation in the PDP constitution to encourage power to move from one part to the other and it is not limited to the Office of the President.

"PDP does not zone the Presidency but PDP zones offices they have absolute control or reasonable control. The fact also is that the chairman of the party, deputy chairman, secretary, these are offices that PDP has absolute control and normally PDP will zone.

"Other elective offices like Senate Presidency, Speaker and National Assembly Officers, PDP has reasonable control as long as we are in the majority. Those offices could be zoned. But, before you zone those offices, the President and the Vice-president would have first emerged.

"I am saying this because I was involved. If you take the situation of the 2007 election for example, when Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and myself emerged, then we met. Ali is here, he was the Chairman of the party then, the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, our late President, myself, the Secretary of the party then, Ojo Maduekwe and Tony Anenih, we sat down in the Glass House.

"The north would have gotten a President who is from the North West, we have a Vice-President who is from the South-South, then, where should we place the party chairman, then we decided it has to go to the South East. Where then do we place the Senate President, we decided it has to go to the North Central. And now we zoned all these other offices. These are offices that PDP has some reasonable control. But before you zone them, the President and Vice President first must emerge," Jonathan said.

On the allegation that he was helping himself with public funds to prosecute his campaign, Jonathan said he would not do anything like that, promising that the sources of funding of his campaign would be made public by his campaign organization at the appropriate time.

"I am a serving President. Most of my Governors are facing the same accusation. The fact is that you cannot use state funds to run campaign. All over the world, we have Electoral laws which stipulates how much an individual can spend at elections. But, I have never used public funds to run my campaigns. At the appropriate time I will publish the details of my campaign funds," Jonathan submitted.