Wike slams PDP’s zoning of 2027 presidential ticket to South, calls move ‘too late’

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has faulted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over its decision to zone the party’s 2027 presidential ticket to the South, describing the move as “belated” and an admission of past mistakes.

On Monday, August 25, 2025, the PDP announced that it had zoned its 2027 presidential ticket to the southern region of Nigeria in what leaders said was an effort to reposition and revive the party.

The resolution was reached at the end of the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held in Abuja.

The NEC also affirmed Umar Damagum as acting National Chairman pending the party’s national convention later this year, while retaining the chairmanship slot in the North.

According to the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, the decision followed the report of the zoning committee chaired by Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri.

Reacting shortly after, Wike—through his media aide, Lere Olayinka—dismissed the zoning decision as “medicine after death.”

“Wike simply said, take the chairmanship to the South if you want to gain the presidency, but they said no, and the PDP lost. Now they are correcting their mistake three years too late,” Olayinka said.

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The former Rivers State governor argued that the current arrangement only makes sense if the South completes an eight-year presidency before the office rotates back to the North in 2031.

According to him, the PDP’s latest resolution vindicates the position he and the G-5 governors held in the buildup to the 2023 elections, when they opposed the party’s decision to allow both the national chairmanship and presidential ticket to remain in the North.

The zoning development has since generated mixed reactions within the party, with some members hailing it as a corrective step while others, like Wike, insist it is too late to save the PDP from further decline ahead of the 2027 elections.