2027 bombshell: Atiku can’t be PDP’s presidential candidate, says Bode George
On Monday, April 14, Bode George, a senior member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a respected voice on its Board of Trustees, made a bold declaration — Atiku Abubakar will not and cannot be the PDP’s presidential candidate in 2027.
Speaking during an interview on Politics Today, a programme aired on Channels Television, George pointed to the party’s zoning policy, which rotates power between the North and South, as the reason Atiku — who hails from the North — is ineligible.
“Atiku can’t be the PDP presidential candidate in 2027. Our internal zoning policy makes it compulsory to be eight years for the South and North. If Atiku emerges as the PDP candidate in 2027 by any means, the party will collapse,” George stated.
His warning comes just hours after the PDP Governors’ Forum also distanced itself from a newly formed Atiku-led opposition coalition, which is reportedly aimed at challenging President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election.
Atiku, who was the PDP’s presidential flagbearer in 2023, recently joined forces with Labour Party’s Peter Obi and former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai in what’s being billed as a powerful opposition alliance to unseat Tinubu.
But with key PDP voices like Bode George and the governors’ forum pushing back, it’s clear that Atiku’s 2027 ambitions face serious internal resistance.
Whether the coalition will hold — or fracture under the pressure of zoning debates and party loyalty — remains to be seen.
