The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide yesterday said the Igbo and the entire South would jettison the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if it fails to zone its presidential slot to the South.
Its spokesman, Alex Ogbonnia, believes the party would lose the South’s support if it presents another Northern candidate after eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said: “The fact is that we have already sent the message out, not just the Ohanaeze but Southern and Middle Belt Forum, that any party that does not zone its presidential ticket to the South should forget about our support and prepare for its nunc dimittis.
“It’s up to them to prefer our support or not to expect it.
“As far as we know, all the Southerners are on one page. The southerners themselves are making an effort to make the Yoruba people see reason in accommodating their Southeast brothers.
“It is deliberate for any party that refuses to give their presidential slot to the South. And we will be deliberate too in jettisoning such party.”
A political scientist, Prof. Obasi Igwe, was of the view that the PDP was on the verge of making a mistake.
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He told The Nation: “The PDP is making a mistake by not being definite on power shift to the South even when the North has produced the national chairman of the party.
“I assure you that their refusal to implement their policy on zoning is going to break the PDP and allow our APC to have a hold on power.
“There can never be a Fulani to Fulani transition of power which is what the likes of the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar are seeking.
“Therefore, Atiku should give way to a southerner, preferably, an Igbo man. There is no equivocation on this.
“We want to build a modern democratic secular state in which religion will be a private affair as in civilised societies. This will help stop the ethnoreligious conflicts in Nigeria.
“We should move along in common citizenship governed by a single law without any religious doctrines intervening.
“Atiku coming in between is simply annoying because he has been given that opportunity last time around. He was also part of the PDP that decided on zoning.”