The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has flayed the zoning arrangement put in place by its All Progressive Congress counterpart for the governorship seat, describing it as undemocratic.
The party accused the ruling APC of playing game with its decision to zone its governorship ticket to Lagos-East Senatorial District for the 2015 election.
The district includes Ikorodu and Epe.
The state Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Taofik Gani, in an interview with our correspondent on Friday, said his party, unlike the APC, had no zoning plan for its governorship ticket.
According to him, there are about 11 governorship aspirants in the PDP, who spread across the three senatorial districts of the state.
Gani said, “They (APC) are not interested in the ideal of zoning per se. What they want to do is to distract the PDP from selecting from a particular area. It is a bait. We know that it is a bait. Only those who do not know the political history of the party and the nomination of its (governorship) candidates easily fall for such baits.
“The man that (Senator Bola) Tinubu would pick as his candidate usually emerges at the last minute. If anybody is being touted now, that person should be more careful. He may not be the eventual candidate of the national leader (of APC).”
Tinubu had been alleged to have endorsed a former Accountant-General of the state, Akinwunmi Ambode, for the ticket.
Gani said the APC might have zoned the ticket to Lagos-East after it had failed the people in Lagos-West and Lagos-Central.
“We have not been in power and we have not disappointed the people. Any zone will be a good constituency for us to present our candidate.
“What is more important is to let them know that they are in this because they feel there is an imminent defeat. It is just a reflection of the disarray the APC is in now. The disarray cannot be far-fetched because they have lost the confidence the people had in them. And they have no choice but to be prepared to leave Lagos,” Gani said.
However, the state Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, stated that the party would insist on zoning its governorship ticket to Lagos-East. He said the system was democratic.
“We are going to present the best out of the lot. Zoning is a special arrangement. When other people have had theirs it has been zoned to Lagos-East. Everybody that is coming out now is from the district.
“It is democratic because what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. We have had a governor from Lagos-West and another from Lagos-Central, now it is going to Lagos-East. That is democratic, especially when a proper primary is conducted for aspirants from the district.
“We are trying to be fair to all concerned. Zoning encourages peace and when you have peace, you’ll have progress.”