NIGERIA: PDP Zones 2027 Presidency To South, Confirms Damagum as National Chairman

By Ameenat Hamzat, Lagos, Nigeria 

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has resolved to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the southern region of the country, as the party confirmed Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagum as its substantive national chairman.

The decision followed a series of closed-door meetings of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) in Abuja on Monday.

In a communiqué read after the meeting, Debo Ologunagba, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, said: “NEC received and, after extensive deliberation, approved the report of the National Convention Zoning Committee, which recommended as follows: that all PDP national office positions currently in the Northern Region remain in the Northern Region; all PDP national office positions currently in the Southern Region remain in the Southern Region; that having retained the position of the National Chairman in the Northern Region, the Presidential Candidate of the Party for the 2027 General Election is hereby zoned to the Southern Region.”

The NEC also directed that the zones should immediately micro-zone positions within their respective regions for implementation.

Damagum, who had been serving in an acting capacity, was sworn in as substantive chairman by the party’s National Legal Adviser, Alhaji Kamaldeen Ajibade. His tenure is effective until the party’s elective national convention scheduled to hold in Ibadan, Oyo state, on November 15 and 16, 2025.

According to the communiqué, “NEC expressed satisfaction over the level of preparedness of the party at its various organs, chapters and structures for the 2025 Elective National Convention scheduled for Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital on Saturday 15th to Sunday 16th November 2025.”

The party also confirmed that its Constitution Amendment Committee has been directed to circulate the draft amendment to relevant organs and chapters for further input ahead of the convention.

NEC commended Damagum’s leadership for stabilising the party, while alleging that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has plans “to turn our country into a totalitarian one-party state.” The opposition party pledged to intensify efforts to reposition itself and reclaim power in 2027. The next NEC meeting will hold on October 15, 2025.

Meanwhile, about one thousand supporters of former presidential candidate and PDP chieftain, Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, staged a solidarity rally outside the NEC meeting at Wadata Plaza. They carried placards urging him to contest for the 2027 presidential ticket, describing him as “a credible alternative and a unifier the nation urgently needs at this critical time.”

The rally was coordinated by three pro-Hashim groups, Hashim Unity Group, The Hashims, and Hashim Advocates, whose leaders praised his integrity and called on the party to consider him as its flag bearer.