Prominent PDP figure and Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro, has called on political parties across Nigeria to honour the unwritten North-South power-sharing understanding by allowing a southern candidate to emerge as president in 2027.
Speaking on Sunday Politics aired on Channels Television, the Benue South Senator stressed that presenting a northerner again could backfire, just like it did for the PDP in the last general election.
“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,” Moro said.
“It backfired. The majority of Nigerians at that time chose a southern candidate to fulfil the righteousness of the unwritten convention of the North-South rotation.”
According to Moro, fielding a northerner in 2023, after President Buhari’s eight-year tenure, was a major mistake that cost the PDP the presidency.
The party had presented former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, another northerner, in an election that ultimately favoured southern candidate Bola Tinubu.
He warned that repeating the same mistake in 2027 would be a dangerous political miscalculation: “It is going to present some little somersaults if, against the backdrop of what happened in 2023, you begin to tinker with the idea of getting power back to the north.”
The senator believes that allowing the south to complete eight years in office before returning power to the north in 2031 would align with the moral expectations of many Nigerians.
Without naming any specific individual, Moro acknowledged that the constitution permits any qualified candidate to run, but insisted that “the reasonable thing to do” is to give the south another term.
In a blunt remark, Moro also reacted to the exit of Atiku and his 2023 running mate Ifeanyi Okowa from the PDP, describing their departure as “good riddance to bad rubbish.”
He claimed the duo played divisive roles that weakened the party post-election, but expressed confidence in the PDP’s capacity to recover and reposition itself.