Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, on Thursday called on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to field a southern Christian as its presidential candidate in the 2027 general elections.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Mohammed argued that choosing a southern candidate would help the PDP avoid the kind of controversy that trailed the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023.
He stressed that the party must be sensitive to Nigeria’s religious and regional diversity when selecting its flagbearer.
Mohammed stated, “What I want to say is we have not absolutely chosen or narrowed down on any person. Everybody should know that PDP is open.
“It’s open in a manner that it is for the southerners to bring somebody, and I said with all humility, we don’t want to make the mistake of the APC.”
The governor insisted that the PDP must balance its ticket in a way that reflects Nigeria’s plural realities.
“We need a Christian from the South to emerge as a presidential candidate, so that he will lead the majority of Christian southerners to come and pick the majority Muslim vice president in the North, not to put ourselves in a cul de sac the way the APC did in 2023, where they picked a minority from the South, and they had to take a majority person from the North which brought the issue of the Muslim-Muslim, which did not take into cognisance our diversity and our different people’s feelings because we have not really reached a stage where we don’t take consideration of all these factors,” he added.
On speculation about the possibility of him running alongside Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, the Bauchi governor dismissed rumours of a pairing.
“The president must be given the opportunity to choose his vice. I am not withdrawing because I want to prepare myself for the vice presidency.
“Of course, if it is within the sense of judgment of our party leaders and the presidential candidate to choose me, I’m ready, but certainly if I’m not given, I have said it to the public today, I’m ready to give whoever the party or the presidential candidate would emerge from the South to bring somebody if he is better than me,” Mohammed added.
He further criticised the APC’s 2023 Muslim-Muslim ticket, saying it provoked backlash and undermined Nigeria’s diversity.
“They picked a minority from the South, and they had to take a majority person from the North, which brought the issue of the Muslim-Muslim ticket,” he said.
