2027 presidency: PDP, others must not be caged by zoning — Olawepo-Hashim

A founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and presidential hopeful, Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has urged his party and other opposition groups not to allow the scheming around zoning the 2027 presidential ticket to distract them from their core duty to Nigerians. Olawepo-Hashim said the country’s future must not be tied to regional calculations […]

A founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and presidential hopeful, Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has urged his party and other opposition groups not to allow the scheming around zoning the 2027 presidential ticket to distract them from their core duty to Nigerians.

Olawepo-Hashim said the country’s future must not be tied to regional calculations or ethnic alliances, but rather to the emergence of a competent, patriotic, and visionary leader capable of tackling insecurity, creating jobs, and improving citizens’ living conditions.

His remarks came in response to Wednesday’s calls by Professor Jerry Gana, another PDP founding member and a member of the party’s Board of Trustees, who urged the party to zone its presidential ticket to the South.

“In tune with this patriotic wisdom of the founding fathers, we urge all our leaders to support the strategy of bringing out our presidential candidate for 2027 from the southern states,” Gana had said, adding that such a move would promote justice, fairness and equity and also enhance the party’s chances at the polls.

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Similar permutations are also being pushed within the African Democratic Congress (ADC), where some coalition leaders are advocating for the party to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South, arguing that it would complete the eight-year tenure initiated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), who is widely expected to seek re-election.

But Olawepo-Hashim, speaking during a media chat on Thursday ahead of the PDP’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, described the growing push for zoning as part of a “coordinated campaign” by political actors driven more by self-interest than national unity.

He condemned what he termed the “continuous manipulation of religion and ethnicity by corrupt political opportunists who have failed to deliver real development to Nigerians.”

“Nigeria does not need a Southern or Northern president,” he said. “What our country urgently needs is a good president, one with the capacity to secure the nation, revive the economy, and restore hope among our people.”

Citing past examples, Olawepo-Hashim said, “In the 1993 election, Kano people rejected their own son, Bashir Tofa, in favour of Chief M.K.O. Abiola from Ogun State. More recently, voters in Lagos rejected the incumbent president for a candidate from another region. In Gboko, a predominantly Tiv and Christian constituency, a Kanuri Muslim, Kashim, was elected into the Northern Regional Assembly during the First Republic. These are testaments to our national political maturity.”

He added, “Those advocating for Southern or Northern presidency are not doing so for the people, but for their own stomachs. Nigerians are not interested in such games anymore. They want leaders who can work — not leaders who merely belong to their region or faith.”

Describing the zoning debate as a distraction, he warned that opposition parties risk playing into the hands of the ruling APC if they remain fixated on regional arrangements.

He urged opposition platforms to instead prioritise competence and allow both party delegates and the Nigerian electorate to freely choose candidates based on merit.