PDP may dump constitution if given power, says Igbo group

THE South East for President 2023 ( SEFORP2023) movement said, yesterday, that the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) may abandon Nigeria’s constitution, the same way it dumped its gentleman’s agreement on rotation of the presidency, if voted into power.

Rising from its National Executive Council ( NEC) meeting in Enugu yesterday, the group condemned the abandonment of the PDP’S zoning/ power rotation agreement and declaring it open, when it was the turn of the South East to produce the president in 2023.

The National Coordinator of the group, Rev. Okechukwu Obioha, told reporters after the meeting, that there is fear in the country that PDP may abandon the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria if the party is voted into power in 2023, since it can flout its power rotation agreement.

He said: “The political rigmarole by the All Progressives Congress ( APC) and PDP, disregarding the Federal Character, provided for by the Nigerian constitution, and PDP’S power rotation gentleman’s agreement, to deny the South East opportunity to produce the president, is a strong indication that the civil war, which supposedly ended 52 years ago, is still on.”

The group further stated: “If the two major political parties, APC and PDP, do not declare Southeasterners their candidates at the end of their primary elections, as it was done in 1999 in favour of the South West and 2019 in favour of the North, SEFORP2023 will go on coalition with various groups and lovers of equity, justice and fairness in the six zones of the country to support and midwife a Third Force to elect the president of Nigeria from the South East in 2023.

“Denying the South East of the 2023 Presidency will create more apprehension and worsen the security situation in the region.

“We, therefore, implore the powers that be, political gladiators, APC and PDP, to do the needful and save this country from unnecessary biases, crises and conflicts.”