Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State and Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum has attributed the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) defeat in the 2023 presidential election to its decision not to zone the presidential ticket to the southern region.
The governor who spoke during an interview last night stated that the party has since learned from its mistake.
Mohammed noted that throwing the ticket open in 2023 was “not a pleasant experience” and went against the principle of consensus.
The decision led to a significant fallout, particularly with the G-5, a group of five governors led by then-Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
Wike argued that since the outgoing President, late Muhammadu Buhari, was from the north, power should have rotated to the south in line with Nigeria’s unwritten power-sharing agreement.
His disagreement with the party led him to support Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who went on to win the election and later appointed Wike as the Minister of the FCT.
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To prevent a repeat of this internal conflict, the PDP has now zoned its presidential ticket to the south for the 2027 elections.
Governor Mohammed, who had previously shown interest in the presidency, said he fully supports the decision for the “common good” of the party.
He stated that the party’s new strategy, which he believes corrects its past errors, will strengthen its chances in the upcoming election.
The governor suggested that the PDP now needs a strong candidate from the south to challenge President Tinubu, whose current administration he believes is underperforming.
