The Caretaker Committee Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi, has made it clear that the party will not entertain any Presidential aspirant from any part of the South for the 2019 election as it has already been zoned to the North.
Makarfi, who spoke to news men in Kaduna today,Monday, said that the position of the party on the zoning formula was supreme and cautioned those already campaigning for the nation’s topmost position come 2019 to stop it.
He said that although it is the constitutional rights of Nigerians to aspire to the position of presidency, but that PDP members are expected to respect the position of the party on the matter.
“Anything that has to do with the party, it is from the leadership of the party that you will hear and that is why I have reaffirmed that the zoning position of the party have not changed. It was the decision of the Port-Harcourt May 21, 2017 Convention. The decision is supreme.
“But let me also remind you that while the presidency was zone to the South in 1999, some aspirants in the North contested and went against it in their rights; but the party went with the decision it took. So, it is up to an individual to make a choice whether to abide by what the party said or go against it.
“However, at the end of the day , it is the position that the party adopted that will prevail. We won’t make choices for individual but my advice is that individual should respect the decision. I have not talked to anybody to know the rationale behind that but I will not alter the decision that the party has taken.
“The Presidency remain zone to the North and I know for sure that the position of the governors, the National Assembly, the BoT as well as the state chairmen of the party.”[myad]
