As the political season of 2011 presidential elections turns its new and long anticipated desperate phase, the players in the ever dynamic theater appear well fitted in the combat regalia against the impending brouhaha over the zoning formula previously adopted by the ruling political party, the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP]. This is as ukpakareports.com gathered through an authoritative source within the oligarchy in the North that the President of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebelemi Jonathan recently dished out a warning to the former vice president of Nigeria in the person of Dr. Alex Ekwueme to desist from associating his person with the agitation to retain the principles of zoning.



The latest of warnings from the President came at the eve of the meeting of ‘Ohaneze Ndigbo’ scheduled to hold on the weekend of October 29, 2010 in Enugu. Information received by our source state that the President had called on the former vice president to stay away from the issue of Ohaneze Ndigbo’s endorsement of his candidacy. He was also cautioned from commenting publicly on the issue of zoning. It is not sure whether the president’s warning was backed by a threat. But the former vice president who is presently resting in the United Kingdom has interestingly remained silent on the unfolding events of late.



The initial warnings were reported to have come from the President to the elderly statesman on the eve of the disrupted Igbo Summit in Owerri at the Imo Concorde Hotel. According to information received, the President, Goodluck Ebelemi Jonathan who had called for a meeting with some of the prominent personalities in the politics of Igbo land, pleaded for the group to boycott the Igbo Summit. Ukpakareports.com gathered that offers were made to some in the group - should they not attend the said event. But it is not certain whether the offers were taken.



However it is certain that the President took exception to Dr. Alex Ekwueme’s intent to attend the said Summit. Goodluck Ebelemi Jonathan sought a private meeting with the former vice president. The meeting was said to last 45minutes. While at the meeting, Goodluck Ebelemi Jonathan offered the former vice president ‘an open door’ to his administration [unlike the treatment meted to him by Olusegun Obasanjo] should he [Ekwueme] turn away from the South East group advocating for their rights. Unconfirmed but credible source indicate that the former vice president did not receive the attempt to twist his principles away from the tenets of zoning – of which he played a principal role in instilling into the PDP. The source told ukpakareports.com that the elderly statesman unceremoniously rose and walked out of the private meeting.



Two days following the said meeting, the elderly statesman defiled the presidency and attended the Owerri Summit at the Imo Concorde Hotel. And mysteriously, the doors to the hotel were shut for the day.

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