Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deliberately zoned its 2027 presidential ticket to the South to avoid repeating what he called the costly mistakes of the 2023 election.
Mohammed, who chairs the PDP Governors’ Forum, told Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday that only a southern Christian flagbearer would give the party the balance needed to take on the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
He linked the PDP’s defeat in 2023 to the party’s decision to throw the ticket open — a move that produced former Vice‑President Atiku Abubakar as its candidate — and to the subsequent rebellion by the G‑5 governors led by Nyesom Wike, which fractured the party.
“Life is always a learning process. When we did it [throwing the ticket open] in 2023, it was not a pleasant experience, and that was why we lost,” Mohammed said. “The presidency is a consensus phenomenon. You cannot impose yourself on anybody or any group.”
Mohammed said zoning to the South is not only about fairness but also about electoral strategy. He argued the PDP needs a southern Christian candidate who can mobilise Christian voters in the region and accept a northern Muslim running mate, thereby countering what he described as the APC’s divisive Muslim‑Muslim pairing in 2023.
“We need a Christian from the South to emerge as a presidential candidate, so that he will lead the majority of Christian southerners to come and pick the majority Muslim vice president in the North, not to put ourselves in a cul‑de‑sac the way the APC did,” he said.
Mohammed dismissed speculation that the PDP might field Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde as presidential candidate with him as running mate. He said the choice of a vice‑presidential candidate should be left to the eventual flagbearer.
“No, that’s not what we are planning. The president must be given the opportunity to choose his vice. I am not withdrawing because I want to prepare myself for the vice presidency,” he said. “If the party or the candidate chooses me, I am ready, but certainly if I’m not given, I’m prepared to support whoever emerges.”
The Bauchi governor said the PDP’s zoning decision strengthens its prospects in 2027, particularly if President Bola Tinubu — who hails from the South‑West — seeks re‑election. “We must field somebody strong, or stronger than him from the South, to give him a fight for his life,” he added.
