PDP Begins Zoning Process for 2027 Presidential Ticket Ahead of Convention

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has officially kicked off the zoning process for its highly anticipated 2027 presidential ticket, signaling early moves toward resolving internal power dynamics and charting a course for its national convention in November.

Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri, who chairs the PDP’s convention zoning committee, announced the development on Monday in Abuja. He confirmed that the decision to include the presidency in the zoning arrangement was taken during a high-level meeting of the PDP Governors’ Forum held over the weekend in Gusau, Zamfara State.

“One of the decisions that was arrived at in that meeting is that we should not only zone the party offices, but as a national zoning committee, we should equally zone the presidency,” Diri said.

The decision marks a significant moment for the opposition party, as it prepares for its national convention scheduled for November 15 and 16, where new members of the National Working Committee (NWC) will be elected.

A 44-member zoning committee has already been inaugurated, with the mandate to allocate party offices — and now, the presidential slot — across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. The party appears intent on avoiding the kind of zoning ambiguity that contributed to the internal crisis surrounding the 2023 presidential primaries.

However, not all members are on board with how the process has unfolded so far. Last week, several prominent PDP leaders from the South-East and South-South regions criticized the committee’s previous meeting held in Lagos, calling it secretive and exclusionary. According to them, “several national officers, eminent leaders, and critical stakeholders“ were sidelined. The group warned they would not accept any decisions “reached in secrecy.”

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde responded to the discontent by assuring that the party would engage with aggrieved stakeholders to resolve any misunderstandings.

Meanwhile, the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) — its highest decision-making body — is meeting today at the PDP headquarters to review the zoning committee’s latest proposals, including the allocation of NWC positions and the much-anticipated presidential ticket.

Governor Diri said the zoning committee reconvened early Monday to complete its assignment before reporting to the NEC.

“After we presented our report from the last meeting, the leadership was satisfied with our work, but also directed us to proceed further,” he stated. “They pointed out that, based on the section of the party’s constitution cited in our appointment letters, it is clear that we must handle the zoning of both party offices and the presidency.”

In keeping with tradition, the PDP typically balances its power structure by zoning the presidential ticket opposite the region that holds the party chairmanship. If the chairmanship goes to the North, the presidency is expected to be zoned to the South, and vice versa.

In 2021, the party zoned the chairmanship to the North, but left the 2023 presidential ticket open, a move that sparked internal strife, particularly among Southern stakeholders. That fallout has continued to ripple through the party’s ranks.