Founding fathers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State have resolved that the party’s governorship candidate emerge from any of the riverine Ijaw or Ogoni communities.
A founding father and member of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Bishop Ombo Isokrari made the disclosure Thursday in a statement.
There have been claims in a section of the media that PDP elders in Rivers State met last Monday and agreed that the governorship be zoned to the Kalabari or Ogoni.
However, the party trustee dismissed the report as “inaccurate,” stressing that the meeting considered and adopted all riverine Ijaw, not exclusively Kalabari as reported.
The statement was signed by his Special Assistant, Media, Hon Iyowuna Tariah.
Isokrari said the meeting agreed that the age-long yardstick on zoning the governorship be maintained. This, he explained, was to avoid “intractable conflicts.”
Said the trustee: “I have seen and read conflicting reports of what transpired at our meeting on 10 November 2014 and wish to state categorically that what we agreed was for the Rivers state governorship to be zoned to the Rivers Ijaws and the Ogonis, not to the ‘Kalabaris and Ogonis’ as reported. Anything else is inaccurate.
“As a founder of the PDP in Nigeria and a member of the BOT, Bishop (Dr) Ombo Isokrari insists that the age long zoning arrangement of the governorship of Rivers State be followed to avoid intractable conflicts”, he declared.