Jerry Gana asks PDP to nominate Southern presidential candidate

Jerry Gana asks PDP to nominate Southern presidential candidate

By Azimazi Momoh Jimoh (Abuja) and Murtala Adewale (Kano)

• End double game or leave, Damagum tells aggrieved PDP members

• I remain in PDP, can’t be party to inorganic ADC, says Lamido

Founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prof. Jerry Gana, has charged the party to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the southern part of the country.

Amid mounting internal tensions and defections, the party’s Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, has issued a stern but conciliatory message to party members engaging in dual political loyalty.

Against the foregoing, former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, refuted claims of any fraternity with the African Democratic Congress (ADC) coalition and vowed to rather maintain his history in the party that made him.

Gana also issued a stirring call to action as the party prepares for its next National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, urging unity, internal democracy and a renewed commitment to the founding values of the party.

Turning his attention to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Gana delivered a scathing critique, describing the last decade under the APC as “the most retrogressive in Nigeria’s history.”

He accused the APC of failing on all major fronts, including security, economy and national unity, citing alarming statistics on kidnapping, inflation, unemployment and Nigeria’s fall from Africa’s top economic position.

“Over 4,000 Nigerians were kidnapped and 1,500 killed in just the first half of 2024. Inflation has surpassed 33.95 per cent, the naira has lost over 765 per cent of its value since 2015, and over 133 million Nigerians now live in multidimensional poverty. This is not governance; this is regression,” he declared.

Addressing party leaders, stakeholders, governors, lawmakers, women and youth leaders, and supporters at a pre-NEC conference, with the theme ‘Reclaiming our legacy, renewing our collective vision’ in Abuja yesterday, Gana declared that the PDP remains “alive, flourishing, and mobilising powerfully for the restoration of good governance, peace, security and prosperity in Nigeria.”

He appealed to the NEC to urgently convene a National Convention to elect a new National Working Committee (NWC), emphasising that the process must be transparent, credible and reflective of the party’s democratic ideals.

The PDP NEC meeting is expected to hold today, to address critical decisions on party leadership and 2027 electoral strategy.

Addressing the Consultative Conference of Founding Fathers and Stakeholders of PDP, yesterday, in Abuja, Damagum urged aggrieved individuals to either fully recommit to the PDP or leave the party altogether, warning that “coalition is an aberration.”

Speaking before a gathering of party elders, serving governors, lawmakers and other critical stakeholders at the NAF Conference Centre, Damagum made a passionate call for discipline, unity and ideological clarity. He reaffirmed PDP’s resolve to rebuild itself as a true national platform for democratic governance, noting that the party’s founding vision must be upheld if it is to reclaim its rightful place in Nigeria’s political leadership.

“You cannot be in PDP and in coalition with another party,” Damagum declared. “If you are going, don’t de-market us. Most of you actualised your political aspirations through this party. We are telling you: come back. But if you must go, do so with clarity, not duplicity.”

He emphasised that while the party remains open to those who genuinely wish to return, it would no longer tolerate “double game politics.”

Lamido, who acknowledged the turbulent situation in which the PDP finds itself, said he would be the last person to join the ADC coalition.

He spoke during a media chat on Tuesday in Kano where he specifically dispelled speculation suggesting his membership of ADC and alleged support for Obi’s emergence as presidential candidate of the coalition.

The two-term governor of Jigawa believed a coalition should ideally be rooted in well-defined parameters and a united front built on unity, stability, security and prosperity of the nation.

He, however, expressed worry that the mission of ADC coalition as presently constituted was rather for aspiration, ambition, vengeance and revenge ahead of 2027.