A founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Professor Jerry Gana, has said Peter Obi would outperform any contender in Nigeria’s northern region if he were to run on the PDP platform.
Speaking during an interview on Arise TV’s Prime Time on Wednesday, July 30, Gana stated, “I’m a researcher, and I research opinions. In the northern states, Peter Obi under the PDP will defeat any candidate, because our people are very fair‑minded.”
Obi, a former Anambra governor, left the PDP in May 2022 and contested the 2023 presidential election under the Labour Party.
Reflecting on the PDP’s origins, Gana recalled the party’s dominance during Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999.
“I must confess that many people have forgotten that the PDP was created as a grassroots organisation,” he said. “In 1998, we were formed and then, moving to the elections in 1999, we were in every polling unit, because we are the ones who really won the first election.
“Many people have forgotten that the PDP won most of the local governments. When it came to the presidential elections, we won the presidency, we won the Senate, and we won the House.
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“We were totally in control, and that is why we were very delighted that we restored democracy to Nigeria and re‑established civil rule.
“Because for a number of years there was military rule, but we successfully terminated that in a very democratic way, so the PDP was really as it were, a grassroots party. That’s why when we said ‘power to the people’, we meant it because that was what it was, and it has been like that.”
Commenting on recent internal crises within the party, he downplayed their magnitude.
“So when this recent problem happened, it was really among a few elites here in Abuja. It didn’t even go beyond,” he said.
Gana, who served as Minister of Information and Cooperation under President Obasanjo, also hinted at future power rotation in the PDP.
“In 2031, it will be the turn of the North. Our people are very fair, and we are building a nation,” he added.