The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South has been described as a validation of earlier positions held by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike and the G-5 group of governors.
This is according to Wike’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication and Social Media, Lere Olayinka.
In a statement released on Monday, Olayinka said the PDP’s failure to adopt this zoning arrangement in 2023 contributed significantly to its loss at the polls.
“Now that the party has accepted what Wike and the G-5 advocated for in 2022, that the presidency should be zoned to the South if the party chairman is from the North, it is clear they were right all along,” he said.
Olayinka recalled that during the 2023 presidential election cycle, Wike and the G-5 had strongly opposed the concentration of both the presidential ticket and the national chairmanship in the North.
Despite their calls for Senator Iyorchia Ayu to step down following the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate, the leadership of the party refused.
“Ayu, with Atiku’s support, refused to resign, and this led to the division within the PDP. The party paid for that decision with electoral defeat and internal crisis,” he added.
While acknowledging that the party’s new position was a welcome correction, Olayinka questioned whether the move had come too late.
“They have now done what they refused to do in 2022. But the damage may already have been done. Wike had warned that power sharing was key to unity and success,” he said.
He also noted that any talk of true zoning would only make sense if the South is allowed to complete an eight-year presidential cycle, after which power could return to the North in 2031.
On Monday, the PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) announced that the 2027 presidential ticket would be zoned to the South, while the national chairmanship would remain in the North.
The party also confirmed Umar Damagum as its substantive National Chairman.
Damagum had served as acting chairman since March 2023 following the court-backed suspension of Senator Ayu. Prior to that, he was the PDP Deputy Chairman (North).
