Chief Bode George, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, has warned that the party faces potential collapse if former Vice President Atiku Abubakar becomes its presidential candidate for the 2027 elections.
“If he (Atiku) picks it (PDP’s ticket), that is the end of this party. If he picks it by manipulation which was what was done the last time, we will not accept it,” the octogenarian said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday.
Atiku Abubakar, the PDP’s 2023 presidential candidate, finished second to Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last election.
Atiku has been pursuing the Nigerian presidency for over three decades and has been the presidential nominee of various parties six times.
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Recently, Atiku initiated an inter-party alliance, forming a coalition on March 20, 2025. He, along with former Anambra governor Peter Obi, ex-Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai, and others, presented the coalition as a means to challenge President Tinubu, whose administration has been criticized for economic mismanagement, including high inflation and a rising cost of living.
The coalition relies on the combined vote totals of Atiku and Obi from the 2023 election. In that election, Atiku and Obi placed second and third, respectively, with over 12 million votes combined, surpassing Tinubu’s winning vote total by more than four million.
However, on April 14, 2025, PDP governors rejected Atiku’s coalition, dismissing any plans for party mergers or coalitions.
Chief Bode George, a PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) member, praised the PDP governors for rejecting Atiku’s coalition during a television appearance on Monday.
George argued that Atiku has not demonstrated leadership within the party, citing his failure to intervene in recent internal conflicts.
“No, if he is the leader of the party, he would have waded into it (the crisis),” George said. “The fact that he was the presidential candidate of the party at the last election doesn’t mean he is a bona fide, fixated leader of the party. If he’s running for his private interest, it’s different from the interest of the party.”
When asked if Atiku could be the PDP’s 2027 flag bearer, George responded, “He cannot be. This is what I am saying. There was eight years in the north, there should be eight years in the south. That is the dictate, that is the doctrine of the PDP. I can’t say he cannot contest; he can go to any party because it is his constitutional right but as far as we are concerned, he cannot be the candidate.”
George cited the PDP’s constitution, stating, “There are rules. Section 7, Sub-section 3C of our constitution. It states that once the presidential candidate has been in the south for eight years, it had to go to the north. And after another eight years, it would come to the south. Is Atiku from the South-West, South-South or South-East?”
George also expressed his desire to see a southern candidate from the PDP win the 2027 election, stating he does not want Tinubu re-elected.
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