THE Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed has attributed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s defeat in the 2023 presidential election to the party’s decision not to zone its ticket to southern Nigeria.
Speaking today in an interview, Governor Mohammed, who also chairs the PDP Governors’ Forum, explained that the party’s choice to throw the ticket open in 2023 proved costly.
“Life is always a learning process. When we opened the ticket in 2023, it was not a pleasant experience, and that was why we lost. I realized that the presidency is a consensus phenomenon—you cannot impose yourself on anybody or any group,” he said.
In the 2023 election, ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar flew the PDP flag, but the decision to leave the ticket open stirred controversy within the party.
The G-5 group of governors, led by former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, opposed the move and reportedly worked against the party during the election.
Wike, who lost the PDP presidential primary to Atiku, argued that power should have returned to the south following ex-President Muhammadu Buhari’s two-term tenure in the north.
To prevent a repeat of this scenario, the PDP has now zoned its 2027 presidential ticket to the southern region, the same region President Bola Tinubu represents.
Governor Mohammed emphasized that the move prioritizes the party’s collective interest over individual ambitions. “We have learnt our lessons from the mistakes we made in the past,” he noted.
The governor also stressed that, with President Tinubu nearing the end of his first term, the PDP must present a strong southern candidate to offer a credible challenge, particularly as he believes the current government has not performed optimally.