Former House of Representatives member and prominent member of the Nyesom Wike-led bloc within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hon. Tajudeen Yusuf, has issued a stern warning to the party leadership, urging them to zone the 2027 presidential ticket to the Southern region or risk political extinction.

Yusuf made the remarks on Tuesday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he emphasized that failure to embrace equity and inclusion would lead the PDP further down a path of internal disintegration and electoral defeat.

“No single politician can win an election without collective goodwill. Zone to the South and see what will happen, but if we continue this trajectory and continue to progress in error, we are postponing the doomsday,” Yusuf stated.

His comments came in the wake of a recent meeting of the G5 governors and allies, including FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, which concluded with a strong call for the PDP to prioritize zoning the 2027 presidential ticket to the South.

Yusuf went further to suggest that such a move could reignite unity within the party and possibly attract influential politicians like Peter Obi of the Labour Party back into the PDP.

“If today, the PDP ticket is zoned to the South, I have a conviction Peter Obi will be more comfortable coming to PDP,” he said.
“But if it’s not zoned and the dynamics and dialectics of primaries are allowed to play, he might not just like he moved when it was not zoned and guaranteed a vice presidency. PDP should do the right thing first.”

Yusuf also delivered a striking claim about Atiku Abubakar, asserting that the former vice president is effectively no longer in the PDP but is now involved in broader coalition negotiations.

“Atiku is out of PDP; he is in the coalition with a lot of people,” Yusuf declared.

He blamed Atiku for the PDP’s defeat in the 2023 general elections, particularly for alienating southern support by failing to reconcile with Peter Obi and ignoring zoning principles.

“If Atiku had not bungled the Obi relationship, if Obi had remained in PDP, and he had picked Obi as vice president, he would have won the election. Obi represented the southern agitations. Nigerians were looking for something different.”

The former lawmaker also lamented the recent defection of former Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to the All Progressives Congress (APC), citing it as further evidence of the internal crisis fueled by poor decisions made during the 2023 campaign.

Yusuf’s statements are a clarion call to PDP leaders to act swiftly and restore confidence in the party by embracing justice, unity, and strategic inclusion as the 2027 elections draw closer.