A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dan Ulasi, has said he would welcome the return of former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to the PDP ahead of the 2027 general election.
Speaking on Arise Television on Friday, Ulasi argued that Obi’s credibility and popularity would significantly boost the chances of any political party.
“I’ll be happy if he joins PDP because he will bring his credibility to bear on the party as we are reorganising. Any party that has him today will know they already have more than 30 to 40 per cent of the election because he has tremendous support across this country,” Ulasi said.
He, however, noted that Obi’s political future remains unclear. “To the best of my knowledge, Peter Obi has no platform. He ran last time with Labour Party, he has attended the launching of ADC. I don’t know what his platform will be,” he added.
On zoning, Ulasi stressed the need for fairness in the PDP’s 2027 presidential ticket. He explained that the party has zoned the presidency to the South and called for “micro-zoning” to the South-East, which he argued is the only region yet to produce a Nigerian president. “If there is honesty, they should micro-zone it to the South-East because virtually now we are the only zone, theoretically speaking, that has not had a presidency,” he said.
The PDP stalwart also disclosed that the party was focusing on internal restructuring ahead of the polls. “In the last national executive meeting we had, almost seven of our governors were there. It was refreshing that everybody is now talking about how to reorganise the party and put it on a stronger footing for 2027 and other elections,” he noted.
Obi, who served as Governor of Anambra State between 2006 and 2014, was the PDP’s vice-presidential candidate in 2019. He left the party in May 2022 after withdrawing from its presidential primary and later became the Labour Party’s flagbearer.
His campaign, widely known as the “Obidient Movement,” gained massive youth support and disrupted Nigeria’s traditional two-party system in the 2023 elections, where he came third behind Bola Tinubu of the APC and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP.
ADEOLA KUNLE
