•Bode George and Atiku Abubakar
A member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, says his party will meet its end if former Vice President Atiku Abubakar secures the party’s 2027 presidential ticket.
“If he (Atiku) picks it (PDP’s ticket), that is the end of this party. If he picks it by manipulation which was what was done the last time, we will not accept it,” the octogenarian said on Channels Television last night.
Atiku, PDP’s 2023 flag bearer, came second after ex-Lagos governor Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last poll. The former vice president has been in a race to become Nigeria’s president for over three decades and has been the presidential candidate of different parties for six times.
Of late, Atiku championed an inter-party alliance that birthed a coalition on Thursday, March 20, 2025. The opposition arrowhead, alongside former Anambra Governor Peter Obi, ex-Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai, amongst others, announced the coalition as a springboard to oust incumbent Tinubu whose administration has been accused of mismanaging the economy, with all-time high inflation and unprecedented cost of living.
The coalition is banking on the numerical strength of the votes recorded by Atiku and Obi in the last poll.
In 2023, PDP’s Atiku and Labour Party’s Obi came second and third respectively with combined votes of over 12 million, more than four million above the total votes recorded by Tinubu who was declared the winner by electoral umpire INEC.
In a twist, PDP governors yesterday, Monday, April 14, 2025, rejected the coalition spearheaded by Atiku, ruling out any plan by the party for mergers or coalition.
George, during the television programme yesterday, applauded the PDP governors for putting on their thinking caps and rejecting the coalition led by Atiku.
The PDP BoT member said Atiku has not shown himself to be a leader of the party because he has not waded into the intra-party squabbles that have befallen the party in recent times.
“No, if he is the leader of the party, he would have waded into it (the crisis),” George said.
“The fact that he was the presidential candidate of the party at the last election doesn’t mean he is a bona fide, fixated leader of the party. If he’s running for his private interest, it’s different from the interest of the party.”
Asked whether Atiku could be the flag bearer of the PDP in 2027, the PDP chieftain said, “He cannot be. This is what I am saying. There was eight years in the north, there should be eight years in the south. That is the dictate, that is the doctrine of the PDP. I can’t say he cannot contest; he can go to any party because it is his constitutional right but as far as we are concerned, he cannot be the candidate.
“There are rules. Section 7, Sub-section 3C of our constitution. It states that once the presidential candidate has been in the south for eight years, it had to go to the north. And after another eight years, it would come to the south. Is Atiku from the South-West, South-South or South-East?” George asked.
The PDP chieftain said he equally doesn’t want Tinubu to be re-elected in 2027, adding that he wants his party to win the next election with a southern candidate.
