Senate Minority Leader Abba Moro has identified the major reason behind the Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP) defeat in the 2023 presidential election, stating that fielding a northern candidate was a strategic error that ultimately backfired.

Speaking on AIT's programme 'Focus Nigeria' on Thursday, the Benue South Senator explained that the decision to nominate former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the party's flagbearer went against public sentiment regarding power rotation between Nigeria's north and south.

"Looking back now to what I know, part of the reason we lost in the 2023 presidential election is the fact that our presidential candidate came from the North," Moro stated. "People generally on moral ground said, look if the North has presided over this country for eight years, it's only fair that the South should be allowed to produce a candidate for the election."

The senator recalled that in 2022, as the party prepared for the 2023 elections, the PDP was focused on finding ways to return to power after years in opposition. While the party's constitution provides for zoning, Nigeria's constitution allows anyone to contest for any position regardless of region.

"In the political permutation of PDP at the time, leaving the choice of candidate open was an attempt to pick the best out of the best that could change the status quo of the ruling party at the time. It was an option that backfired and needs remediation," Moro explained.

The decision to field Atiku had sparked controversy within the party, with many PDP chieftains accusing the leadership of violating the party's convention and rotation policy by allowing the North to produce both the National Chairman and presidential candidate simultaneously.

Moro warned that the PDP risks facing similar electoral disappointment if it fails to learn from its past mistakes. "It takes a few hours or minutes to cause damages but it takes more time and effort to repair," he noted.

"At the moment, the PDP is trying to realize its mistakes, and there is no doubt that if PDP continues to make the mistakes of the past that presumably led to our present predicament, the results will be the same," the Senate Minority Leader concluded.