Lere Olayinka, a spokesperson for Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that it is “too late” for the main opposition party to zone its presidential ticket to the South ahead of the 2027 general election.

On Monday, the PDP announced that it has zoned its party’s presidential ticket for the 2027 general election to the Southern part of the country, while its national chairman will come from the North.

“They have realised the mistake they made in 2022 and are correcting it in 2025. But is it not too late already, bearing in mind that the only way the zoning can be justified is for the South to conclude its eight years, while the presidency returns to the North in 2031?” Mr Olayinka said in reaction to the zoning.

The spokesman for the PDP, Debo Ologunagbe, had disclosed in a communiqué read after the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) 102nd convention, held at its national headquarters in Abuja on Monday, where the PDP’s presidential candidate will be coming from in 2027.

“That, having retained the position of the national chairman in the North, the presidential candidate of the party for the 2027 general elections is hereby zoned to the Southern part,” Mr Ologunagbe read from the communiqué.

Mr Olayinka explained that his principal had been vindicated by the PDP’s decision to zone its presidential ticket to the South and the chairmanship to the North.

He noted that it is unfortunate that the party was only now realising its failure and attempting to correct it in 2025.

“Now that the party has realised its mistake of not listening to Wike and the G-5 in 2022, and has chosen to do what they said three years after, have they not been vindicated now?” he said in a statement.

He recalled that the G-5 governors, of which Mr Wike was part, had insisted in 2022 that the ex-presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, and its national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, must not remain in the same zone, arguing that since the duo hails from the North, Mr Ayu must resign to pave the way for a national chairman from the South.

He added that Mr Ayu had refused to resign, with Mr Atiku and his group backing the former chairman.

“Aftermath of this was the electoral misfortune the party suffered in 2023, followed by instability after the elections,” Mr Olayinka said.

The FCT minister has consistently criticised the opposition party and its members since joining President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.