A top aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has said the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South amounts to a vindication of his principal.

Lere Olayinka, Wike’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication and Social Media, said in a statement on Monday that the party had finally acknowledged the position canvassed by Wike and the G-5 governors in the build-up to the 2023 general election.

“Now that the party has realised its mistake of not listening to Wike and the G-5 in 2022, and has chosen to do what they said, three years later, have they not been vindicated now?” Olayinka asked.

He recalled that Wike and his allies had argued that the PDP’s presidential candidate and national chairman should not come from the same region. When former Vice President Atiku Abubakar emerged as candidate from the North, they demanded the resignation of the then chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, also from the North.

“Ayu, however, insisted on not resigning, with Atiku and his group backing him. The aftermath of this was the electoral misfortune the party suffered in 2023, followed by instability after the elections,” Olayinka said.

He added that while the PDP may now be correcting its error, the decision could be coming too late. “Wike simply said, ‘Take the chairmanship to the South if you want to gain the presidency.’ But they said no, they must take the two, and the PDP lost,” he said.

The PDP’s National Executive Council (NEC) met in Abuja on Monday and announced that the presidential ticket for 2027 would go to the South, while the national chairmanship position remains in the North. The NEC also confirmed Umar Damagum as substantive chairman of the party.