By Ise-Oluwa Ige

ABUJA— Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke, SAN, yesterday, declared that the zoning formula of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the post of the president is unconstitutional and should not be used to overheat the nation’s polity.

He instead called on leadership of various political parties in the country to embrace internal democracy in the choice of their flag-bearers for the impending 2011 presidential poll.

The Attorney-General yesterday also said that there was need for presidential assent to the amended 1999 constitution which was recently endorsed by constitutionally required number of states’ houses of assembly.

He spoke on a day the Chairman of INEC, Prof Attahirtu Jega gave conditions for the commencement of the impending general polls by January, 2011.

He said that though the commission had no plans to shift the election timetable, he said it is not feasible to commence the 2011 general poll by January as anticipated in the present amendments to the 1999 constitution.

He said for the election to hold according to law and as stipulated in the amended 1999 constitution, that certain provisions of the Electoral Act 2006 must either be amended or give way.

Both the number one chief law officer of the Federation and the INEC boss were reacting to the various topical issues yesterday in Abuja during the roundtable on the 2011 Elections with a theme “Imperatives and Challenges for Credible Elections.”

The event was jointly organized by the Emmanuel Ukala Centre for Democracy and Electoral Process and the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.

Mr Adoke, the Attorney-General of the Federation delivered the keynote address at the occasion.

His exact words: “I wish to comment briefly on the issue of zoning which has taken a pride of place in our political discourse.

“I believe that this great country is at the threshold of history and as citizens, our pre-occupation should be how we can tackle our developmental challenges without unnecessary bickering.

“I am indeed surprised that what was regarded as an internal arrangement of a political party has been elevated to the front-burner while playing down the express provisions of the Constitution regulating who qualifies to contest election as President.

“I personally feel that the provisions of the Constitution are so clear that we need not over-heat the polity with such trivial issues” he declared.

Adoke pointed out that “it is alarming that whilst political parties openly canvass for the opening up of the political space, they appear not to be ready to yield ground on the issue within their parties.”