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The Chief Judge of
the Federal Capital Territory, Lawal H. Gummi, has announced that he
will deliver his judgment on a suit challenging the party on the issue
of zoning on November 24.

Mr. Gummi fixed the
date after listening to arguments by the parties in the suit filed by
Sani Aminu Dutsinma, a presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), yesterday.

Mr. Dutsinma had
sued both the party and its national chairman, Okweselize Nwodo,
contending that the party had deliberately ignored its constitutional
zoning arrangement to make room for Goodluck Jonathan to contest in
2011.

In an originating
summons deposed, Mr. Dutsinma had asked the court to force the party to
adhere to the provisions of its constitution and zone the presidency to
the Northern zone of the country.

The PDP’s defence

The PDP refuted the
allegations that it had previously zoned the presidency to the north,
and maintained that it would be discriminatory to exclude anyone from
contesting election in a democratic setting on the basis of religion or
place of birth.

“It is our
submission that nomination of candidate of a political party has always
been regarded as a domestic affair,” said Olusola Oke, the party’s legal
adviser.

“If internal
democracy must be deepened, no individual aspirant should be given
advantage over the other by reason of his place of origin,” Mr. Oke
said.

He asked the court
to strike out the matter for lack of jurisdiction, saying that Mr.
Dutsinma was not a bona-fide member of the party, having failed to pay
his dues for the past 3 years.

Furthermore, the
party said that its constitution never specified that any zone will
serve for two consecutive terms as president.

He, therefore, asked the court to discountenance Mr. Dutsinma’s claim that a zone is entitled to two terms.