Once Nigeria’s most dominant political force, the Peoples Democratic Party has seen its grip on power steadily weaken amid internal crises, leadership battles and mass defections that have reshaped the country’s political landscape, Punch reporter, ISMAEEL UTHMAN writes
In December 2008, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, declared that the party would rule for 60 years.
“The PDP is a party for all and it is set to rule Nigeria for the next 60 years. I don’t care if Nigeria becomes a one-party state. We can do it and the PDP can contain all,” he said.
That was a period when the PDP had about 28 governors and a comfortable majority of National Assembly members and state lawmakers, following the infamous do-or-die 2007 general elections.
Four years earlier, at the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1999, the PDP had produced President Olusegun Obasanjo and 21 governors.
NGF crisis and internal rebellion
But it was not long before Ogbulafor’s prediction became a candle flame in the wind. Things began to fall apart for the PDP five years later with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum crisis.
In May 2013, the NGF held an election, and then Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State was re-elected chairman after defeating then Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State by a vote of 19 to 16.
Before the election, Amaechi and some governors had fallen out with President Goodluck Jonathan, while Jang’s camp had his backing. It was the era of “16 is greater than 19” in the PDP.
In a dramatic turn, the Jang bloc formed a splinter group with a separate secretariat in Abuja, holding parallel meetings. The bloc was recognised by Jonathan, while Amaechi’s group was seen as rebellious.
On December 9, 2013, five PDP governors — Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Amaechi — left the party and joined the newly formed All Progressives Congress.
That marked the beginning of the end of the acclaimed largest political party in Africa.
A major blow was also dealt to the PDP when Obasanjo quit the party and tore his membership card in the presence of the media.
However, former military Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.), who disclosed that the PDP was a brainchild of ex-military leaders, said on March 11, 2017, that the party could still rule for 60 years if it put its house in order.
Instead of improving, however, the PDP slid from one crisis to another, each dealing a fatal political blow to the party’s strength.
2023 primaries and the G-5 revolt
Fast forward to the lead-up to the 2023 presidential primary, which further exposed deep internal divisions in the PDP.
While former Vice President Atiku Abubakar insisted on contesting the presidential election, many PDP leaders and governors under the umbrella of the G-5 believed it was the turn of the South to produce the President after the eight years of the late President Muhammadu Buhari. The G-5, led by Nyesom Wike (Rivers) and Seyi Makinde (Oyo), opposed Atiku’s eventual nomination.
Wike, who wanted to become Atiku’s vice-presidential candidate, was edged out for Ifeanyi Okowa, then governor of Delta State, a development that aggravated the G-5’s grievances.
The infighting reduced the party from a unified front into factions, undermining its ability to campaign cohesively ahead of the 2023 elections. Wike and other G-5 members worked for President Bola Tinubu’s emergence to spite Atiku.
As part of efforts to reconcile aggrieved camps, the PDP removed its National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, and replaced him with an acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, who was perceived as Wike’s loyalist.
But Damagum’s loyalty was tested repeatedly during the struggle to remove the party’s National Secretary, Sam Anyanwu, a staunch loyalist of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
The revolt began when the party’s South-East zone nominated Sunday Ude-Okoye to replace Anyanwu after he contested the 2023 Imo State governorship election. The PDP Governors’ Forum insisted Anyanwu must be removed, while Wike and others backed the embattled secretary. The ensuing court and internal battles further fractured the National Working Committee and the Board of Trustees of the PDP.
Controversial convention, expulsion wars
The crisis climaxed on November 25, 2025 when the Damagum camp, with the support of four PDP governors, conducted a national convention in defiance of two separate Federal High Court orders.
The convention, which produced a new National Working Committee led by a new National Chairman, Tanimu Turaki, resulted in the expulsion of Wike; Anyanwu; Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN); former Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose; Austin Nwachukwu; and several others for alleged anti-party activities.
But the Wike bloc also made a counter-expulsion move, announcing the expulsion of Governors Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Bala Muhammed (Bauchi) and Dauda Lawal (Zamfara); PDP Board of Trustees Chairman, Adolphus Wabara; former National Vice Chairman, Bode George; and Turaki.
INEC’s rejection and the crisis of legitimacy
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission rejected the Ibadan convention and the Turaki-led NWC of the PDP, citing legal processes.
In a letter dated December 22, 2025, and signed by its Secretary, Dr Rose Oriaran-Anthony, INEC said two judgments of the Federal High Court in Abuja — Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/2120/2025, delivered on October 31, 2025, and Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/2299/2025, delivered on November 14, 2025 — restrained it from supervising, monitoring, recognising or giving effect to the outcome of the convention or any similar exercise, pending full compliance with court orders.
Though the Turaki-led NWC rejected INEC’s position, the implication is that the new leadership lacks locus standi, and its activities may amount to a nullity.
The non-recognition of the new leadership has been a source of concern for many PDP stakeholders, who believe that every decision taken by the apex organ of the party will be dismissed once the court nullifies the convention, as prayed for by the Wike bloc.
As of Saturday, Damagum and Anyanwu were still listed as the National Chairman and National Secretary of the PDP, respectively.
Governors’ defections, shrinking PDP map
After the 2013 episode, protracted crises have also stripped the staggering party of no fewer than 11 governors and several national and state lawmakers since 2020.
On November 17, 2020, David Umahi, then a second-term PDP governor of Ebonyi State, defected to the APC.
Similarly, Cross River State governor at the time, Ben Ayade, dumped the PDP for the APC on May 20, 2021, while Zamfara State governor, Bello Matawalle, joined the APC on June 29, 2021.
The recent gale of defections also swept Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State on April 23; Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom on June 6; and Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, on October 14 — all in 2025 — to the APC.
Similarly, Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, left the PDP on November 3, while Taraba State Governor, Agbu Kefas, also defected.
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State announced his resignation from the PDP in a statement by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, in December.
Rasheed said Adeleke resigned from the party on November 4, joined the Accord Party on December 9, and became its flagbearer for the 2026 governorship election.
Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State also joined the APC on December 9. The Plateau State governor is the latest PDP bigwig to defect to the APC. His defection was announced by the APC National Chairman, Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, during the party’s 14th National Caucus meeting held at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja.
Of all the PDP governors elected in the 2023 general elections, only Makinde, Muhammed (Bauchi), Lawal (Zamfara) and Fintiri (Adamawa) remain in the party, while the PDP has also lost scores of lawmakers to the APC.
Dissecting the causes of what they described as the “misfortune” of the PDP, political analysts said impunity, the overbearing influence of political office holders and the abandonment of the party by its former leaders were responsible for the decline of what was once described as the largest political party in Africa.
Although the PDP still has structures from the unit to the national levels, the leadership crisis has left thousands of members directionless.
The rebuilding efforts
However, a spokesperson for the PDP, Ini Ememobong, attributed the party’s declining fortunes to the dynamics of politics, noting that it was not peculiar to the PDP or Nigeria’s political system.
Despite the leadership crisis, Ememobong said the PDP would bounce back, adding that the party was being returned to the people as it was in the beginning.
He said, “In the history of Nigerian politics, parties getting into power and leaving power is normal. The Democratic Party in the United States and the Labour Party in the UK have, at one time or another, left office, even for more than a decade.
“What we are facing in the PDP is simply the dynamics of politics. The really important thing is how we are building back. We are building back with our name and returning power to the people. When we started, we had no governors, no senators, only the people who voted for us and made those decisions. Unfortunately, some people who emerged through the party process have decided to elope with the votes. Do we chase them, or go back to the people who made us? We are going back to the makers of the party — the people.
“We are ensuring that the voices of elected officials do not drown the collective voices of ordinary people. This will be a counterbalancing situation where we respect governors, senators and others, but not at the expense of the accumulated voices of the people. That is the new PDP being rebuilt on the basis of justice, equity, fairness and transparency, where everyone has a say in determining the party’s candidates.”
Similarly, a member of the NWC loyal to Wike’s bloc, Timothy Osadolor, argued that the inability of governors to subordinate themselves to party structures, as well as the arrogance of some leaders, brought the PDP to its knees. He said genuine reconciliation could restore the party’s glory and urged the warring camps to engage in dialogue.
Osadolor said, “The truth is that a system that drives away people like Adolphus Wabara and some of these governors would never amount to anything significant. These are men given to doublespeak and quick fixes, unwilling to take hard decisions. It also borders on arrogance, because ultimately the mandate to remain in power belongs to the Nigerian people, and it is quality service that earns another term in office.
“We could have created a lasting legacy of 20, 50 or even 80 years of organised governance if citizens, administrators and people-oriented leaders had been allowed to lead the party. It is unfortunate that the PDP, once the pride of Nigerians, has been reduced to this state. But democracy will not die, and the PDP will not die. Nigerians should keep hope alive. There will be gradual shifts in the administration of the PDP. What the party must do is to go back home and ask: where did we get it wrong?”
Asked the way forward, Osadolor said, “First and foremost, the PDP must change its leadership. Governors must be tasked to become members of the party, not leaders of the party. Let party administrators be elected by the true owners of the party — the people. Let the leaders who are bitterly divided across ideologies reconcile genuinely, tell each other the truth, apologise where necessary and close the gaps. More importantly, we must tell Nigerians what we will do differently if given another opportunity to administer Nigeria.”
Punch
