The Jonathan/Sambo campaign organisation yesterday reacted swiftly to the accusations made by ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

Mr. Sully Abu and Mr. Bolaji Adebiyi in a statement yesterday said Atiku’s allegation that President Goodluck Jonathan broke the Peoples Democratic Party agreement on zoning “is not new.”

“He and his political associates have persisted in rendering this untrue account of the evolution of the zoning policy of the party since they entered the race earlier this year. Our understanding of the issue, however, is that until August 12, 2010 when the National Executive Committee of the party approved a zoning policy, the party had none.

“Whatever existed before then was a whimsical arrangement among some party leaders that could not replace the provisions and guidelines laid down by the constitution of the party for decision-making and policy formulation.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the subsisting zoning and rotation policy of the party is: where an incumbent president dies in office, his successor shall, notwithstanding his zone of origin, be entitled to the rights and privileges of the previous occupant of the office, including the right to seek re-election. This is the policy enunciated by the NEC on August 12 and the agitation of Atiku against President Jonathan’s aspiration, which is in line with this policy, is in keeping with his knack for disrespect for the authority of the party.

“Let us be clear about this: Vice President Atiku’s endorsement by one of the numerous informal political associations in the country represents no serious challenge to the aspiration of President Jonathan because the PDP and its members are not looking for a sectional leader whose antecedent suggests he is an unreliable party man. A man who will abandon the collective simply because of a temporary setback is certainly not one to be relied upon as the party’s flag bearer.

“This in any case is subterfuge; an exercise in futility that will lead its participants absolutely nowhere because we are confident that in January, our party men and women will separate the wheat from the chaff.”

The statement said “Atiku has continued with the selective use of facts to contradict even experts’ opinion that the economy is being well managed and that the fundamentals of the economy remain strong.”