By  HENRY UMORU
FORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned against the use  of sentimental blackmail to scare South-South delegates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP from voting freely for whosoever  they want  during the January 13, 2011 presidential primaries of the party.

Atiku argued that freedom of choice is the soul of democracy and that, where delegates are under threat over who they should vote for, democracy itself would be mortally threatened.

The Presidential aspirant on the platform of the PDP also said that if President Goodluck Jonathan fails to clarify his stand on the threat by Chief Tony Anenih to “fish out” and deal with Niger Delta indigenes that will vote for him, it thus means that the President’s commitment to free and fair elections in 2011 will be a sham.

The Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organization in a statement in Abuja yesterday however expressed disbelief that the former Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT of the party could make such threat to delegates in the presence of President Jonathan at the South-South delegates and stakeholders’ conference in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.

According to the statement, President Jonathan’s silence amounts to tacit acceptance of Chief Anenih’s position on using sentimental blackmail to scare delegates from the Niger Delta region from voting freely for whomever they want  during the impending January 13, 2011 PDP presidential primaries.

According to the statement, ‘’the silence of President Jonathan is sending the wrong signals to other geo-political zones that may be compelled to vote for their own because Anenih has threatened to punish Niger Delta delegates if they vote for any aspirant other than Jonathan.

“By keeping silent on this dangerously divisive politics of ethnic loyalty, President Jonathan has confirmed that he is incapable of rising above primordial sentiments and leading a diverse and populous country like Nigeria,” it said.