Former presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dele Momodu, has faulted the zoning of presidential tickets ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He described the arrangement as unconstitutional and a ploy to weaken opposition parties.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, Momodu argued that zoning had been reduced to a political weapon designed to favour President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“There is nothing in the Nigerian Constitution that stops anyone, whether you are a northerner or a southerner, from contesting. This so-called sentiment is a result and reward of blackmail from some people who want to deliberately keep all other parties down. Because they know that if you zone all other parties to the South, none of them will be able to beat Asiwaju (President Tinubu),” he said.
He maintained that any party serious about contesting power in 2027 should throw its doors open rather than adopt zoning, which he said is being manipulated to secure Tinubu’s second term.
On the crisis rocking the PDP, Momodu declared that the party had been “hijacked” by elements loyal to the APC, making it incapable of reform.
“PDP has been completely hijacked by agents of the ruling party who insist on staying in PDP while working for APC. It’s an anomaly. If I don’t agree with my party, the honourable thing to do is to resign, and that’s what I did,” he said.
According to him, the PDP has been reduced to “a cadaver room, a place where you keep bodies that are dead or kept in the ICU,” insisting that the party has lost the capacity to rescue itself from internal sabotage.
Now a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Momodu clarified that no candidate, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has been promised an automatic ticket by the opposition coalition.
“I don’t think ADC has promised to give an automatic ticket to anyone, including Atiku Abubakar. He is not the sole candidate of ADC,” he stressed.
The zoning debate resurfaced following the PDP’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on August 25, where the party resolved to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South while retaining the chairmanship in the North. The NEC also confirmed Umar Damagum as national chairman, following the suspension of Senator Iyorchia Ayu in March 2023.
PDP leaders argued that the decision was taken to stabilise the party ahead of the next election cycle. But critics insist zoning could undermine its chances against the APC, which has already adopted President Tinubu as its candidate for 2027.
Although the PDP has yet to announce its flagbearer, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, had earlier warned that zoning the ticket to the North would fail.
