Chimaroke Nnamani, a former governor of Enugu State, has given reasons for why he is endorsing Ahmed Bola Tinubu as the party’s presidential candidate.
According to Nnamani, the Peoples Democratic Party violated its own constitution by denying the South the chance to contest for president.
According to the former governor, the PDP’s constitution calls for the North and South to alternate holding important political positions to guarantee equity, justice, and fairness.
The PDP suspended the Enugu lawmaker and other party leaders in the states of Ekiti and Imo over suspected anti-party conduct, Bifotad.com reported just a week ago.
A statement by the lawmaker on Sunday, and made available to journalists in Abuja, read, “Conscious of the need to share and rotate key political offices among the diverse people of our country, the PDP constitution clearly stated that it shall adhere at all times to the policy of the rotation and zoning of the party and public elective offices in pursuance of the principle of equity, justice and fairness.
“Even when the PDP National Chairman Iyorchia Ayu made a firm commitment to step down ,should a northerner emerge the presidential candidate for the 2023 elections, the leadership jettisoned the constitutional provision and turned the logic upside down.”
The lawmaker recalled that “in 2019, the PDP allowed the North to compete in the presidential primaries in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where Atiku Abubakar won the ticket and ran in the election.
He continued by saying that it was anticipated that the PDP would similarly permit the South to run for the top job in 2023.
He noted that Atiku received the ticket once more due to a turn of events and purported political scheming.
The lawmaker added that the G-5 governors, who insisted on upholding the North-South rotation paradigm, were among the southern PDP faithful who were outraged by the results of the presidential primaries.
According to the lawmaker, “the PDP’s move amounted to injustice and a lack of equity, insisting that it is morally wrong to leave the North in power after President Muhammadu Buhari’s term in 2023.”
Bola Tinubu was able to become the front-runner because Buhari, in acknowledging the North-South power rotation, offered an opportunity for political balancing.
“Having critically examined the situation, I found Tinubu as the preferred candidate from the South to foot the bill in 2023, saying that there is need for political harmony in a manner that gives all parts of Nigeria a sense of belonging,” he said