2027: You can’t be PDP presidential candidate — Bode George tells Atiku

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and member of the party’s Board of Trustees, Chief Bode George, has declared that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar cannot be the party’s presidential candidate in the 2027 general elections.

Speaking on Politics Today, a programme aired on Channels Television on Monday, George said the PDP’s internal zoning arrangement makes it impossible for a northern candidate to fly the party’s presidential flag in the next election cycle.

“Atiku can’t be the PDP presidential candidate in 2027,” he stated emphatically. “Our internal zoning policy makes it compulsory to be eight years for the South and eight years for the North. If Atiku emerges as the PDP candidate in 2027 by any means, the party will collapse.”

His remarks come in the wake of growing political realignments ahead of the 2027 polls. Earlier on Monday, the PDP Governors’ Forum officially distanced itself from an opposition coalition reportedly spearheaded by Atiku.

Atiku, who was the PDP’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election won by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, recently joined forces with Labour Party’s Peter Obi and former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai to announce a new opposition alliance, aimed at unseating Tinubu in the next presidential contest.