Former PDP Deputy National Chairman Chief Bode George has declared that Nigeria’s main opposition party will not field a Northern presidential candidate in the 2027 elections, warning such a move would insult the party’s founding principles.
The elder statesman made the assertion during a Lagos PDP gathering celebrating the party’s “restoration.”
“There is no chance that our party will have somebody from the North in 2027. That would be insulting to the founding fathers of the party, many of whom have passed to the great beyond,” George stated.
He invoked PDP history, recalling: “The late Alex Ekwueme contested for the presidential ticket of the PDP but did not win. However, that did not cause him to collapse the party. That is what you call a God-fearing gentleman.”
The party chieftain expressed dismay over recent defections, accusing President Bola Tinubu of pressuring PDP governors to join the APC. “I have some advice for all those who have broken away and are saying they are going into a coalition to defeat Bola Tinubu,” George remarked. “In the meantime, I can tell you confidently that Bola Tinubu and his group are coercing our governors to join the APC. However, the power does not belong to him. People of this country, please open your eyes.”
George dismissed the defectors with a proverb: “With all these people running around, a rolling stone gathers no moss. They tried it before, but they ran back.” He questioned their loyalty, asking: “What they are doing is like disowning their father’s house. Can you leave your father’s house because it is leaking, and go and stay at a tenant’s?”
The Lagos PDP leader’s comments come amid growing political realignments, with his emphatic stance on zoning reflecting ongoing tensions within opposition ranks ahead of the next general elections.
