Bode George, a member of the board of trustees of thePeoples Democratic Party (PDP), has warned Sule Lamido, former governor ofJigawa, not to take the party to court over the sale of nomination forms fornational chairmanship contest. Speaking on ‘Politics Today’, a Channels Televisionprogramme, on Tuesday, George said Lamido must first explore the party’sinternal dispute resolution processes before seeking redress in court. The PDP chieftain also said Lamido has every right tocontest for the party’s national chairmanship position. “The fact that those leaders converged and supported oneindividual as a consensus candidate doesn’t mean others can’t contest,” Georgesaid. “You want to make the process seamless. It’s an internaldynamic. We have done this before, but the party has never stopped anyone fromcontesting. “My friend Sule Lamido has the right to compete. He can goand get the form, fill it, and follow the normal process to appear on the dayof the convention. We will vote. “But before you take the party to court, you must exhaustthe internal dynamics of the party. If you fail to do that, you can bepunished. “So, he (Lamido) is exercising his rights, but if he goes tocourt for this, he can be punished.” “Let him go; nobody will deny him any form, and he cancompete. The final decision will be by delegates attending the convention, andit will be done openly.” George emphasised that the PDP constitution provides forinternal conflict resolution procedures that all members must respect tomaintain discipline within the party. His comments followed Lamido’s claim that top PDP officialsare obstructing his attempt to purchase nomination forms for the chairmanshiprace. On Monday, Lamido visited the PDP national secretariat inAbuja with his supporters but claimed that key offices were “locked” andofficials unavailable to attend to him. The former governor also vowed to take legal action againstthe PDP if he is prevented from obtaining the nomination form to contest theparty’s national chairmanship position. There has been disquiet within the opposition partyfollowing the recent zoning arrangement, which allocated the nationalchairmanship position to the north-west. A section of northern leaders has endorsed Tanimu Turaki, aformer minister of special duties, as a consensus candidate—a move some PDPnorth-west stakeholders kicked against. The PDP’s elective national convention is scheduled to beheld from November 15 to 16 in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
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