A political pressure group in the Peoples Democratic Party, the Concerned PDP League, has urged the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, not to re-contest in 2027.

The group gave the advice in Abuja on Sunday in a communiqué after a meeting signed by the league’s National Secretary, Tasiu Muhammed and acting National Director of Publicity and Strategic Communication, Gbenga Adedamola.

It also urged the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State not to nurse any ambition for the presidential office until 2031, to avoid a repeat of what happened to the PDP in 2015 and 2023.

The group said in the communiqué that its advice was for interested aspirants from the North to understand that the South has eight years to do before power returns to the North in 2031.

“Our advice is also to ensure stability in the political system of the country,” the group said.

It advised the party to be cautious of those factors responsible for its failure in the 2023 general election and avoid them as it prepares for the 2027 general election.

“As we all know, the year 2023 was a challenging one for our great party, with us losing the presidential election due to failure to abide by our party constitution 2017 as amended and failure of leadership.

“Also, some unpatriotic and unappreciative members elected on our party platform defected with our mandate to other parties, and the courts allegedly transferred our votes to other political parties.

“This year 2024, we want to plead with members and especially leaders of our great party to know that they will have to make great sacrifices, such as withdrawal of court cases, grudges, and suspension of personal and divisive interests.

“This is for the interest and unity of the party, to enable us to defeat our common opponent, the All Progressive Congress in future elections, which has failed Nigerians beyond human imagination,” the group said.

The PDP group said despite the support for a southern candidate for the 2027 presidential election, it condemned the statement credited to the immediate past governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, for declaring support for President Bola Tinubu’s undeclared ambition for 2027.

This, the group said, was at the expense of any presidential candidate the PDP would present for the 2027 presidential election.

“We also vehemently condemn the overbearing attitude and actions of the immediate past governor of Rivers State and Federal Capital Territory minister, in PDP and his state.

“In the same vein, we strongly condemn the incumbent governor of Rivers State for failing to acknowledge the role or intervention of the party in ensuring peace between him and his predecessor. It is also unfortunate that the governor has deliberately failed to mention the party in his speeches since he became the governor. He should have the courage to come out straight and tell us if he wants to defect to another party because his actions are confusing. All we hear in his speeches is “the president or President Tinubu did this and that,” the group said.

Regarding the Rivers State Assembly members who defected to the APC, the group reiterated that their seats remained vacant, since the votes of PDP could not be transferred to the APC.

It urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to within the stipulated period in the law, conduct elections into those offices, in order not to deprive the people of those Rivers constituencies their representation.

“We urge the NWC of our party to include section 109(g) to our expression of interest and intent forms for aspirants to sign with an affidavit attached to stop the stealing of our party mandate by ingrates,” it said.

The group, while congratulating the PDP governors and their counterparts in the opposition, who were victorious in Friday’s Supreme Court judgements, commended the apex court justices for the courage to protect the people’s votes and choices in governorship appeal judgements.

“The benefitting states are Adamawa, Bauchi, Plateau, Kano and Zamfara states and we plead with them to display the same unbiased judgment in the remaining cases of Nasarawa and Rivers states before them slated for Monday. Let them remember that the supreme judge of all will judge both their judgements and other actions on the last day.”

The group commended the party’s NWC under the leadership of the acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, and his team for their efforts and contributions to the peace, unity and progress of the party.

It stated, “We also commend other leaders and members who are supporting the NWC and silently and genuinely contributing to the unity and peace of the party.”