A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Inuwa Mohammed Bassi, has said the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) can only win the 2027 presidential election by fielding a candidate from the southern region.

Bassi, who represents Jada, Toungo, Ganye, and Mayo-Belwa Federal Constituency in Adamawa State, made the assertion in an exclusive interview with journalists on Wednesday in Yola.

He argued that the PDP zoning arrangement does not favour a northern presidential flagbearer in the next general elections, warning that failure to respect that balance could jeopardise the party’s chances.

“The only thing that can give PDP victory in 2027 is to bring out a presidential candidate from the zone the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has zoned its candidate,” he said.

According to the lawmaker, such a move would bridge the nation’s long-standing divides along ethnic, religious, and regional lines and give the PDP a strategic advantage by combining southern votes with its traditional dominance in the North.

Reacting to the wave of defections from the PDP to the APC, Bassi dismissed the trend as a mere “political trade fair,” arguing that those decamping were not strong enough to affect the PDP’s future.

“If they are politically powerful, why did the PDP not win in 2023?” he asked, adding that many of those switching parties do so only to secure personal gains or appointments.

He projected that in 2026, the PDP would witness a mass return of defectors and new members from other political parties, as the APC would struggle to defend its record in office.

“It was just a week ago that the Minister of Works was moving from state to state flagging off super highway projects. But Nigerians are hungry, are those roads for the living or the dead?” he said.

On the political atmosphere in Adamawa, Bassi praised Governor Ahmadu Fintiri for strengthening the PDP’s grip on the state, saying, “In Adamawa, there is no breathing space for another party. Our people are not PDP by day and APC by night.”