The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has denied claims of an agreement to hand over its presidential ticket to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar or any of its prominent members ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The party’s Deputy National Youth Leader, Timothy Osadolor, clarified this in an interview with Punch on Friday.
He emphasized that the party remains committed to a transparent and democratic process in determining its presidential candidate, adding that decisions on candidacy will be made through established procedures.
“Nobody has told the party that he or she is running on the platform of the PDP for the party to take a position, and there is no agreement that a particular person will be given the ticket. As of today, we have not issued notice for the sale of form, we have not called for primaries. So, we don’t know who is running and who is not going to run,” said Osadolor.
Osadolor’s rebuttal came barely two days after the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, ruled out Atiku’s chances of securing the PDP’s presidential ticket again in 2027.
He said Wike’s position might be valid if what transpired in the past was put into consideration.
Osadolor, however, stated that Atiku couldn’t also be ruled out of contention for the ticket, citing Donald Trump’s victory as a reference point.
He said, “If Trump could win a Kamala Harris, anything is possible. Again, Wike’s points are valid. It is only a man who is immune to changes that would discard most of the observations he made because at the end of the day, it is about the people.
“So, maybe there was something about branding or the way he (Atiku) branded himself in the past that didn’t resonate well with the people. But people still have the opinion that the elections were a fraud and that he actually won. At any rate, I don’t also see him running and winning without trying to curry the support of everybody, including that of Nyesom Wike himself too.”