Former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, has said the party cannot field a northerner as its presidential candidate in 2027.
Politics Nigeria recently reported that presidential candidate of the PDP in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, had commen moves to relaunch his ambition ahead of 2027.
But addressing journalists in Lagos on Monday, the PDP chieftain alleged that Atiku’s ambition was responsible for the party’s poor outing in 2023.
“I don’t really understand the rhetorics in some quarters these days that a member of the party from the north is strategising or plotting to return as the presidential candidate of our party in 2027,” George began.
“A northerner cannot be the presidential candidate of our party in 2027, pure and simple. The earlier some members pushing this agenda know this truth, the better for our collective sanity.
“To think of a Northerner as our saviour in 2027 is a joke taken too far.
“I cried loudly before the last general election that we cannot shut out the South from our strategy and hope to win. Two Northerners emerged as our presidential candidate and national chairman. We all saw the outcome.
“I can boldly say that those who supported that idea gave the opportunity for Tinubu to become the president today and a repeat of that fiasco will lead to the end of PDP in 2027.
“I want to alert Nigerians that the primitive agenda that led to the PDP losing the February 25, 2023 presidential election is rearing its ugly head again.
“I want Nigerians and PDP members to know that Chief Olabode Ibiyinka George, one of the founding fathers and a former Deputy National Chairman of our party, is not anti-party and will never do or say anything against the interest of this party but I abhor and hate injustice at any level.
“I have no iota of tribalism in my blood. I stand to fight for inclusiveness for all Nigerians in the political process of this country and especially in this party where some of us have suffered great injustice for the fight of equity and justice for all.
“As leaders of the party, we must not pander towards ethnic affiliation because PDP is the only true national party. The APC is just a mere collection of strange bed fellows.”
George noted that some governors are against the plot to return a northerner as PDP presidential candidate in 2027.
“How can we go into the 2027 election season with this type of division and expect to win the presidential election? Unless we are united, unless we have fairness, equity and justice in our system, the party and the country are heading nowhere.
“In the build up to the 2023 presidential elections, I was shocked about the quality of response from some of our members, so divisive and arrogant.
“All the party elders saying then that the National Chairman should not resign, where are they today,” George queried.