Northern group to PDP: Zoning 2027 presidential ticket to south unjust, anti-democratic

The Joint Action Committee of Northern Youth Associations (JACON) has rejected the decision of the Peoples Democratic Party to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the south.

On Tuesday, the PDP national executive committee (NEC), the party’s highest decision-making organ, threw the contest for the presidential ticket to the south, while keeping the chairmanship position in the north.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday in Kaduna, Sani Yaya, JACON’s director of media and public affairs, described the decision as “unjust and undemocratic”.

“JACON has received with utter shock and profound dismay the anti-democratic and unjust decision by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to zone its presidential candidacy for the 2027 elections exclusively to the southern part of Nigeria, thereby blatantly excluding qualified Nigerians from the North from contesting,” Yaya said.

He noted that the development is a “grave affront to the principles of fairness and justice” and a “monumental betrayal of the massive and unwavering support” the north has given the PDP since 1999.

“It is a reckless move that negates the very spirit of national unity and rotational equity, which the party claims to uphold,” Yaya said.

The group’s spokesperson claimed that between 1999 and 2015, when the PDP was in power, the south ruled for 13 and a half years, while the north had only two and a half years.

“It is an undeniable historical fact that out of these sixteen years of PDP rule, the North was only allowed to produce the President for an extremely short period of two and a half years. This is profoundly unjust,” he said.

“The south, under the PDP, held the presidency for a whopping thirteen and a half years.

“Therefore, the move by the governors to zone the ticket back to the south in 2027 is a deliberate attempt to permanently sideline the north and deny it the opportunity to complete its rightful share of leadership within the party that it nourished with its votes.

“This calculated marginalisation will not go unanswered. The north can no longer continue to be the political burden for a party that treats it as a second-class region, only useful for its votes but not deserving of its fair share of leadership.

“This decision is unfair, unjust, and undemocratic as it stifles competition and excludes a major section of the country from participation.”

Yaya said the “equitable path to justice” is for the PDP to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the north.

“This is the only way to correct the existing imbalance and allow the north to complete the years of leadership that the south has already enjoyed under the PDP banner,” he added.

“Fairness demands that the north be given an equal opportunity to lead. This act of political marginalisation will have severe consequences.”

He said northern leaders would “mobilise” their “entire structures” to ensure the PDP is punished during the general election for the alleged betrayal.

Yaya added that the PDP must not assume that the north’s support is “unconditional or can be taken for granted”.