By Peter Omopo
Senate Minority Leader, Senator Abba Moro, has admitted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made a costly mistake by presenting former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate in the 2023 general election.
Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme on Tuesday, Moro described the decision as a strategic error that weakened the opposition party’s chances against the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“At the time, the PDP threw open its zoning arrangement to put forward its best candidate. But eventually, the decision backfired because Nigerians resisted the idea of a northern candidate succeeding a northern president,” Moro said. “We’ve now reviewed and reconciled, and virtually all of us agreed that a mistake was made in 2023 fielding a northern candidate. Definitely, fielding Atiku was an error.”
Following its 102nd National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, the PDP resolved to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South while retaining the National Chairmanship in the North. Moro explained that this was a consensus decision to promote fairness, justice, and unity within the party.
He further described the PDP’s 2023 loss as “a very monumental election lost in a disastrous manner,” stressing that the party had learned hard lessons from the experience.
