The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has announced that its 2027 presidential ticket will be zoned to the South, while the party’s chairmanship will remain in the North.
The decision was reached during the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, where Umar Damagum was also confirmed as National Chairman. Damagum, who had been acting chairman since the suspension of Senator Iyorchia Ayu in March 2023, previously served as PDP Deputy National Chairman (North).
Zoning has long been a divisive issue in the PDP. In 2023, the party threw its presidential ticket open, a move that produced former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as candidate but triggered internal cr+sis.
Nyesom Wike, then governor of Rivers State, opposed the decision and ultimately backed Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who went on to win the election.
The ruling APC has since adopted Tinubu as its presidential candidate for 2027. Against this backdrop, Wike—now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory—warned in May 2025 that fielding a northern candidate would be dis@strous for the PDP.
“As a party, come out openly now (and say) our presidential candidate will also come from the South? You don’t want to do that; you want to play the same game you played in 2023. It will backfir£, and when it backfir£s, you will say these people did this, these people did that.
“I have told people: this smartness will not help you. Come out now and let everybody know this is where we are heading. This is not the time to send the presidency to the North. No,” he said at a media parley in Abuja on May 12.
He further cautioned, “The point is that selfishness can kill a system. If Mr President runs, for example, and wins in 2027, by 2031, the APC will zone their presidential ticket to the North. The PDP will do what then? Then you’ll come back and say, since the APC has zoned it to the North, let’s keep it in the North. What kind of smartness is that?”
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