Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Chief Bode George has warned the party against leaving its 2023 presidential ticket open for all members to contest.

He said: “It is mandatory, it is legitimate for the party to say yes, this is zoned to the South or to the North; but to leave it wide open is combustible.”

“Whatever has been in the North after eight years must come to the South; whatever has been in the South for the last eight years must go to the North.”

“I am looking at now as an engineer, there is a political equation; when they conceptualised this idea, nobody in their wildest dream thought there could be another political party that could produce the president.”

“When you now say you want to throw it (zoning) away, are you telling Nigerians that it is only in certain parts of the country that you have people who have the competence or the courage to rule Nigeria? How can there be peace?”

“Are you saying we don’t have anybody in the southern part? What we are telling people [is that] we have no right as a party to tell any individual [that] you cannot contest, because it will be illegal.”