A coalition of northern youth groups under the Joint Action Committee of Northern Youth Associations has opposed the Peoples Democratic Party’s decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South, describing it as “anti-democratic, unjust, and a monumental betrayal” of the North.
At a press conference in Kaduna on Tuesday, JACON’s Director of Media and Public Affairs, Ambassador Sanin Yaya, warned the opposition party of serious political consequences if it failed to reverse the decision.
He argued that the zoning arrangement effectively excludes qualified northern aspirants from contesting on the PDP platform and amounts to a reckless move that undermines fairness, justice, and national unity.
“The Joint Action Committee of Northern Youth Associations has received with utter shock the unjust decision by the PDP to zone its presidential candidacy for the 2027 elections exclusively to the South.
“This is a monumental betrayal of the massive and unwavering support the North has given the PDP since 1999. It negates the spirit of national unity and rotational equity, which the party claims to uphold,” Yaya said.
The coalition recalled that between 1999 and 2015, when the PDP dominated the Federal Government, the North produced a president for only about two and a half years during the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s truncated tenure, while the South enjoyed 13 and a half years in power.
Yaya stressed that the decision to return the ticket to the South is a deliberate attempt to sideline the North and deny it the opportunity to complete its rightful share of leadership within the party.
JACON further warned that the North would no longer serve as a “political beast of burden” for a party that treats the region as second-class, useful only for votes but not deserving of leadership.
The coalition vowed to mobilise northern voters against the PDP in 2027 if the zoning arrangement is not reconsidered, and announced plans to convene an emergency meeting of its member associations to strategise on how to resist the formula.
The group also called on northern political, traditional, and religious leaders to speak out against what it described as a “brazen act of exclusion.”
“The time for silent acquiescence is over. The time to demand our rightful place in the political architecture of this nation is now,” Yaya said.
