The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has zoned its 2027 presidential ticket to the southern region of Nigeria while retaining the party’s chairmanship in the North.
The decision was reached during the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Abuja, where Umar Damagum’s position as National Chairman was also affirmed. Damagum, who stepped in as acting chairman in March 2023 following the suspension of Senator Iyorchia Ayu, has now been confirmed as substantive leader of the party.
The issue of zoning has long been contentious within the PDP. In 2023, the party threw its ticket open, which paved the way for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to emerge as candidate a move that sparked internal crisis. Displeased, then Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike openly backed Bola Tinubu, the eventual winner of the election, and has since been appointed Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
President Bola Tinubu, a southerner and candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has already been unanimously adopted by his party to seek re-election in 2027.
Wike, speaking earlier this year, had cautioned the PDP against zoning its ticket to the North, warning it would amount to “political suicide” if the APC fields a southern candidate while the opposition does otherwise.
With the zoning decision now settled in favour of the South, attention is expected to shift to who emerges as the PDP’s flagbearer ahead of what is shaping to be a heated 2027 contest.
