Abuja — State governors elected under the Peoples Democratic Party reportedly angling to take over from President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in 2011 have been told to shelve such plans as the party yesterday hinted that there will be no vacancy in Aso Rock Villa.

Also, the party called on Dr. Andy Uba to look beyond his quest for the Anambra State Government House and cooperate with the governorship candidate of the party, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to better the fortunes of the party in the state in next year's governorship election.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali, he described moves by certain interests which have been spreading rumours of a replacement of President Yar'Adua by 2011 as the handiwork of noise-makers.

He added that such actions are alien to the character of the party, stressing, "That is not how the PDP works". The declaration by the party follows reports which had been rife that certain governors may have been tagged to take over from Yar'Adua in 2011.

While the party's spokesman rubbished the idea of a possible replacement for Yar'Adua in 2011 as "speculation without substance," he called on party faithful to discard such reports as rumour, stressing that the PDP government would not be distracted from concentrating on the business of providing good governance and democracy dividends to the people. Speaking on Andy Uba and the verdict by the Court of Appeal in Enugu recently, Alkali said while the PDP noted his right to seek redress in court over the revalidation of his 2007 mandate, since the court has made a proclamation, Uba should now accept and work with the party to ensure success in the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State. According to him, "All those who have contested and lost should know that the party comes first. All of them are desirous to serve their state but there are many other ways to contribute to the development of their state. In any case, there can only be one governor at a time in the state. God has now come on the side of Soludo and the party has now endorsed him fully.

"The best thing is for everybody to come together so that we move forward. Remember that there are many other people who are also coming out to contest under other political parties. The more we have internal squabbles, the more we give chance to our opponents to also raise their voices."

Alkali advised aggrieved members to explore the party's internal mechanism to resolve their disputes rather than rushing to the courts, saying, "This culture of litigation raises doubts as to whether these people are working for the party or for our opponents."

He vowed that the party would institute the appropriate sanctions against its members who have continued to ignore directives from the national headquarters.