2027: Ex-Atiku Campaigner Urges PDP Against Fielding Northern Presidential Candidate

A former Atiku campaigner advises the PDP to avoid presenting a northern presidential candidate in 2027, emphasizing the need for balanced representation to regain public trust.

Adetokunbo Pearse, a prominent member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former participant in Atiku Abubakar’s 2023 Presidential Campaign Committee (PCC), has called on the party to secure a southern candidate for its presidential nomination in 2027.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Sunday, Pearse provided the advice.

He believes that having a northern presidential candidate could negatively impact the party’s prospects in the next election.

The prevailing national opinion and general sentiment is that the PDP should nominate a candidate from the southern region for president in 2027.

“We need someone from the South to serve these next four years, ensuring a total of eight consecutive years under southern leadership, so that we can work towards rescuing Nigeria.”

Pearse stated, “This reflects how Nigerians feel at the moment. Consequently, I agree with the viewpoint that endorsing a northerner for president is neither strategic nor in our best interest.”

The party leader emphasized that the PDP did not require a merger with any other political group to secure victory.

He also dismissed the likelihood of significant opposition parties, such as the Labour Party, New Nigeria People’s Party, and PDP, uniting to challenge the APC in 2027.

He stated that, historically, political mergers in the country have not been successful.

Forming alliances in politics, whether domestically or internationally, is challenging because competing groups and leaders often find it difficult to yield to one another.

“It’s neither simple nor realistic. We’ve attempted it in the past, and I have extensive experience with this matter.”

“It is highly unlikely for the PDP to form any alliance in 2027. I personally believe it won’t happen,” he added.

He believes that the LP and NNPP will not contribute significantly, as each party secured only one governorship in the most recent general elections.

Pearse stated that the PDP is poised to win the 2027 presidential election due to its strong representation of governors and National Assembly members, especially if it fields a southern candidate.

“We simply need to fortify our party by reconnecting with members who have departed.”

“If they return to the party, even if it’s just 60 percent of them, we will win the next election.”

He stated, “We’ll win the upcoming election since the recent 2023 one was very close. We currently have 12 governors and control around 40 percent of the National Assembly.”

He stated that the PDP already controls 12 states and only needs to secure a few more to unseat the APC.

Pearse stated that the PDP simply needed to reach out to party leaders “who had gone astray,” particularly those who joined the Labour Party.

This includes our youth members who went to support Labour, something we’ve been doing since the conclusion of the last election.

We’ve been actively working on bringing our people back by reaching out and talking to them. We’re in the process of negotiating how we’re going to accomplish this.

He stated, “Therefore, our task is to operate within our structures, engage in negotiation and reconciliation with all our people; this will lead us to victory in the next election.”

Pearse stated that the former ruling party was defeated in the 2023 general elections due to internal divisions regarding zoning.

The previous mishap with the party occurred because they failed to clearly define the constitutional principles stating that if the national chairman is from the north, then the presidential candidate must not also be from there.

Typically, we elect the national chairman before selecting our presidential candidate. It was anticipated that Dr. Iyorchia Ayu would graciously resign from his position as national chairman once a northerner was chosen as the presidential candidate. However, this did not occur.

That marked the start of our issues; a divided house led to losing that election.

“The Presidential Candidate, Vice President Atiku Abubakar, also failed to adequately address the issue. We will not let it occur now,” he stated.