Former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, Dele Momodu, has condemned the zoning of presidential tickets ahead of the 2027 elections, calling it a deliberate tactic to weaken opposition parties.
Gatekeepers News reports that speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, Momodu said zoning is unconstitutional and designed to reduce competition for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He said, “There is nothing in the Nigerian Constitution that stops anyone, whether you are a northerner or a southerner, from contesting.”
Momodu added that the zoning debate is being manipulated to serve the ruling party’s interests.
He said, “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 in the presidency, none of them will be able to beat Asiwaju (President Bola Tinubu).”
“It is very clear. Once you keep all parties and you say, ‘Come and compete,’ people are going to tell you that Asiwaju is already our president, so why are we looking for another president? That is the strategy. That is why any right-thinking political party should throw its door open.”
On the PDP’s internal crisis, Momodu lamented that the party had been infiltrated by loyalists of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said, “PDP has been completely hijacked by agents of the ruling party who insist on staying in PDP while working for APC. It’s a kind of anomaly. If I don’t agree with my party, the honourable thing to do is to resign, and that’s what I did.”
“PDP is at a dead end. Some people are desperate; they don’t want to kill it, but they want to keep it in the ICU for whatever purpose in the future. That is why they have refused to leave.”
“ Everybody is just now using PDP as a cadaver room, a place where you keep bodies that are dead or kept in the ICU. It’s a shame, but I have left.”
Momodu clarified that the party had not promised any automatic ticket to anyone. He said, “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.”
On August 25, PDP had during its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on August 25, resolved to allocate its 2027 presidential ticket to the South while retaining the chairmanship in the North.
