The Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication and Social Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, Mr Lere Olayinka, has said the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South while retaining the national chairmanship in the North vindicates his principal.
In a statement on Monday, August 25, Olayinka said the party’s refusal to zone the ticket to the South ahead of the 2023 election was the reason for its poor performance at the polls.
“Now that the party has realised its mistake of not listening to Wike and the G-5 in 2022, and has chosen to do what they said, three years later, have they not been vindicated now?” Olayinka asked.
He recalled that Wike and the G-5 governors had insisted that the PDP could not have both its presidential candidate and national chairman come from the same region.
According to him, since Alhaji Atiku Abubakar from the North had secured the party’s presidential ticket, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, also from the North, ought to have stepped down as chairman.
“Ayu, however, insisted on not resigning, with Atiku and his group backing him. Aftermath of this was the electoral misfortune the party suffered in 2023, followed by instability after the elections,” Olayinka said.
READ ALSO: PDP Zones 2027 Presidential Ticket to South
He further argued that although the party had finally corrected itself, it may have come too late.
Olayinka said, “Has PDP not come back to eat its own vomit? Sadly, they know the truth. Wike simply said, ‘Take the chairmanship to the South if you want to gain the presidency.’ But they said no, they must take the two, and the PDP lost!
“They have realised the mistake they made in 2022 and are correcting it in 2025. But is it not too late already, bearing in mind that the only way the zoning can be justified is for the South to conclude its eight years, while the presidency returns to the North in 2031?”
On Monday, the PDP National Executive Council (NEC) in Abuja ratified the zoning committee’s recommendation, officially zoning the presidential ticket to the South and retaining the national chairmanship in the North.
The NEC also confirmed Umar Damagum as the party’s substantive national chairman.
Damagum, who previously served as the PDP National Deputy Chairman (North), became acting national chairman in March 2023 following the suspension of Senator Iyorchia Ayu, a decision later upheld by the court.