PDP zoning vindicates Wike, G-5 on 2027 presidency – Olayinka

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

The People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) recent National Executive Committee (NEC) decision to zone the 2027 presidency to the South while retaining the party’s National Chairman in the North has been hailed as a clear vindication of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, and the influential G-5 group’s stance from 2022.

In a statement signed by Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to FCT Minister, Lere Olayinka, he described the PDP’s zoning resolution as an admission that the party had erred by not heeding Wike and the G-5’s advice three years ago. Olayinka stated, “Now that the party has realised its mistake of not listening to Wike and the G-5 in 2022, and have chosen to do what they said, three years after, have they not been vindicated now?”

He recalled the original insistence from Wike and the G-5 that the presidential candidate and the National Chairman of the PDP should not come from the same zone. “Since Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, from the North, emerged as the presidential candidate, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, also from the North, must resign to pave the way for a National Chairman from the South,” said Olayinka.

However, Ayu resisted calls to step down with the support of Atiku and his faction. This, according to Olayinka, led to the party’s electoral misfortune in 2023 and subsequent post-election instability.

He criticised the party’s earlier position, saying, “Has PDP not come back to eat its own vomit? They know the truth. Wike simply said, take the chairmanship to the South if you want to gain the presidency, but they said no, they must take the two, and the PDP lost!”

Olayinka stressed that the NEC’s 2025 resolution to zone the presidency to the South while keeping the chairmanship in the North is a corrective measure, but questioned whether it is coming too late. He noted, “The only way the zoning can be justified is for the South to conclude its eight years, while the presidency returns to the North in 2031.”