*We don’t know the plaintiff, says PDP

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA—The Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, Justice Lawal H. Gummi, yesterday, slated November 2 to commence hearing on a suit seeking to stop President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the 2011 presidential election under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The plaintiff, one Alhaji Sani Aminu Dutsinma, dragged the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr Okweselize Nwodo, to court, insisting that he championed the bastardization of the party’s constitution in order to pave way for President Jonathan to contest the impending general elections.

Dutsinma, who has equally declared his intention to vie for the presidential slot of the PDP, is praying the high court to compel the party, its organ and members to respect and adhere to the provision of Article 7.2 (c) of its constitution as amended in 2009, by ensuring that only a northerner is allowed to fly the party’s flag come 2011.

He is urging the court to hold that the decision of the PDP to jettison the Article which, he said, provided for the principle of rotation and zoning of elective offices across the federation, was morally defective, even as he contended that the Northern part of the country still have till 2015 to relinquish presidency to another region.

He equally maintained that except the party held a national convention, with a view to effecting amendments on certain provisions of its constitution, it would be acting in nullity by making the office open to all aspirants after its ex-chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, hitherto, admitted that the office of the president was zoned to the northern region of the country till 2015.

Meanwhile, the PDP has maintained that it does not even know the plaintiff as one of its aspirants for the 2011 general elections, just as it urged the court to go ahead and strike out the suit for substantially lacking in merit.

In an 8-paragraph affidavit to the originating summons filed against it by the plaintiff, PDP averred that it had not singled out any aspirant for encouragement nor adopted any candidate from any part of the country for the office of the presidency.

The ruling party further contended: “It is not correct to state that the presidential flag bearer of the 1st defendant for the 2011 election is zoned to Northern Nigeria, the 1st defendant decided that its members from all parts of Nigeria are free to apply to fly the 1st defendant’s flag.”