A chieftain and former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), National Deputy Chairman, Bode George, has advised the party to stick to its power rotation between the North and South to win in the 2027 general elections. He stated this while answering questions from newsmen during his address to the nation, titled “My Thoughts on The State of Our Country in the Last 25 Years: A Time to Chart A New Direction”.

George reacted to a statement made recently by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and PDP 2023 Presidential candidate that he would shelve his political ambition in 2027 if the party picks the Labour Party Presidential candidate in 2023, Mr. Peter Obi.

The former Deputy National Chairman said power rotation must be adhered to, he stated that the PDP should have learned its lesson from defeat in 2023

He said: “Our party has a ground norm. The constitution of our party as compiled by the founding father, Baba Ekwueme (former Vice President Alex Ekwueme) and his team will remain a guiding light.

“We have paid a big price for not following the rule. We have made mistakes, let us learn. It has cost us too much.”

He continued, “Section 7 subsection 3C states very clearly that the party must adhere to the zoning and rotation procedures for party positions and elective positions simultaneously for things to work well.”

According to him, power rotation, as enshrined in the PDP’s constitution, was to ensure that we did not give room for the military to come back into power. He added that the party’s founding fathers divided the country into six geo-political zones to ensure that the majority and minority tribes were all given a sense of belonging.

“This is because the problem since 1960 is between majority tribes and minority tribes. The majority tribe will have their way, but the minority will just be mere onlookers. That was the major cause of coups and counter coups,” he said.

George added that the party’s founding fathers came up with the idea that the top six positions in the land be shared by the six geo-political zones for equity and justice. The positions of offices of the President, Vice President, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and Chairman of the party.

He added: “They (founding fathers) agreed that every eight years, all the positions held by northern zones should come to the south zones, and vice versa, for rotation.

“The moment we (the PDP) started altering the idea officially against our grundnorm, that was what created division in PDP.”

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