A top chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Abba Moro, has called for the Southern region of Nigeria to produce the country’s next president in the 2027 election.
Senator Moro, who is also the Senate Minority Leader, emphasised that this would complete the eight-year unwritten power rotation code between the Southern and Northern regions of the country.
He said this on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme.
The Benue South lawmaker explained that the PDP’s loss in the 2023 presidential election was partly due to the party’s decision to field a northerner, Atiku Abubakar, as its flag bearer to succeed a Northerner, former President Muhammadu Buhari.
He noted that Nigerians rejected the approach, opting instead for a southern candidate, President Bola Tinubu, to fulfill the unwritten convention of North-South rotation.
“In 2023, the PDP to unseat the government of APC, decided to put its best foot forward and at that time, picked Atiku Abubakar against the code of an unwritten agreement of North-South presidency.
“It backfired. The majority of Nigerians at that time chose a southern candidate to fulfill the righteousness of the unwritten convention of the North-South rotation. That presidency will be four years by 2027,” he said.
The senator warned that political parties planning to field Northern candidates in 2027 might lose out in the next poll.
He argued that it would be reasonable for the South to produce the next president to complete the eight-year cycle, and that Nigerians would likely expect the north to produce the next president in 2031.
Moro also commented on the exit of Atiku and his 2023 running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa, from the PDP, describing it as “good riddance to bad rubbish.”
Despite this, he expressed optimism that the PDP would re-emerge as a strong and viable opposition.
Meanwhile, an opposition coalition has adopted the African Democratic Party (ADC) as its platform to challenge President Tinubu’s administration in 2027.
The coalition, which includes Atiku, Peter Obi, and other prominent politicians, is banking on the numerical strength of the votes recorded by Atiku and Obi in the last election.
