The Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should present a Christian candidate from the southern region for the 2027 presidential election, in order to avoid the controversy that trailed the All Progressives Congress (APC) Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2023.
Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, on Thursday, Mohammed said the opposition party must balance Nigeria’s religious and regional diversity in the choice of its flagbearer.
“What I want to say is we have not absolutely chosen or narrowed down on any person. Everybody should know that PDP is open,” he said.
“It’s open in a manner that it is for the southerners to bring somebody. And I said with all humility, we don’t want to make the mistake of the APC.
We need a Christian from the South to emerge as a presidential candidate, so that he will lead the majority of Christian southerners to come and pick the majority Muslim vice president in the North.”
He argued that the ruling APC’s decision in 2023 to field President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima both Muslims did not sufficiently reflect Nigeria’s diversity and heightened divisions.
Mohammed also dismissed speculations that the PDP had settled on a ticket pairing him with Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State as presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
“No, that’s not what we are planning. The president must be given the opportunity to choose his vice. I am not withdrawing because I want to prepare myself for the vice presidency,” he explained.
“Of course, if within the judgment of our party leaders and the presidential candidate I am chosen, I’m ready. But certainly, if I’m not given, I have said it publicly today: I am ready to give whoever the party or the presidential candidate from the South brings forward, if he is better than me.
It could be recalled that Diaspora Digital Media reported that PDP has already zoned its presidential ticket to the southern part of the country, a move Mohammed said he fully supports, adding that the party intends to build unity and win back Nigerians’ trust ahead of 2027