Ahead of the 2027 general elections, many heavy weight politicians have been defecting from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Speculation is still high that many more leading opposition figures will yet move in the coming days. PAUL OKAH asks if the massive defection heralds the end of the PDP as the main opposition party.
In the history of Nigerian politics, defection is common as many politicians defect from political parties to another in order to realise their ambitions, especially a few years or months to a general election. Of course, they don’t defect alone; they move with thousands of their supporters to a new political party.
Ahead of the 2027 general elections, defections have already started taking place as many notable politicians have been defecting from other parties, especially People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), citing internal crisis as a reason.
In retrospect, as a sitting National Chairman of PDP, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor scored a first when he boasted in 2008 that PDP, which was formed in the same 2008, would rule Nigeria for 60 years. However, seven years later, the one-time formidable political party lost the 2015 general election and things have not been the same again as many notable members of the party are now in the APC.
It is now a regular occurrence for members of the National Assembly (NASS) or notable politicians to defect from the PDP to APC or other political parties, efforts to stem the gale of defections of the victim party notwithstanding.
Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Ambassador Umar Ilyas Damagum, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT), Senator Adolphus Wabara, have been holding concerted meetings with other members of decision-making bodies of the party, trying to persuade aggrieved members not to leave for another party, offering message of hope to the party’s supporters; however, that has not stopped the gale of defections hitting the party like a tsunami almost on a daily basis.
“PDP dead and gone, defection for political survival”
A political analyst, Joseph Nanzing, said the PDP is dead and gone, saying the wave of present defections is a political calculation by some politicians to realise their ambitions and safeguard their interest ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said: “PDP is truly gone. There is nothing anyone can do about it. APC will have a field day in 2027. Many of the remaining PDP members are just clawing at straws, barking but cannot bite. To tell you the severity of the situation, just last month, the 2023 vice presidential candidate of the PDP, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, defected to the APC along with the current Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and all the LG chairmen and thousands of supporters.
“In politics, one must try by all means possible to fight for survival. One can tell for sure that Okowa and Oborevwori didn’t just wake up one morning and decided to seek refuge in the APC; they had to take stock of the sinking ship and jump boats. You can’t blame them. The PDP is in disarray and the remaining members are not doing anything to salvage the situation. The acceptance of Bola Ahmed Tinubu is also a contributory factor as he has been working round the clock to reposition the country. The game of politics is continually evolving and the players of the game must evolve with it. That’s what the foresighted politicians are doing ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“Every first-term governor would like to go for a second tenure, so expect more defections in the coming days. Even at the National Assembly, many are still defecting and will still defect to realise their ambitions. That’s what politics is all about: No permanent friends or permanent enemies, but permanent interests. There is no opposition that can dislodge the APC in 2027. As I said before, the PDP is dead and gone, so no one should deceive you. They didn’t play their cards right when they had the opportunity, so they are facing the consequences. Moreover, it is the good works of President Tinubu that is attracting so many people to the APC. Things can only get better.”
“Atiku the problem”
Speaking with our reporter, a political scientist, Christopher Adegbenro, said the problem of the PDP lies in the political interest of the 2023 Presidential candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubabar, whom he said nurses presidential ambition every election year.
He said: “I weep when I reflect on what the PDP has been reduced to as an emasculated opposition political party. It is even commanding respect to regard the PDP as an opposition political party because it is presently bereft of ideas. Many of the supposed PDP members are APC in body and spirit. They have one leg in PDP and another leg in APC. You can’t really say where they stand if you are asked.
“The most pathetic thing is former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who was the presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 general election. He has contributed to the destruction of the party with his selfishness. Atiku was to be president every four years, hence the opinion of others doesn’t count. He is one of the reasons people are defecting from the party because he equally wants to contest again in 2027.
“If PDP dies today, Atiku contributed to the demise with his selfishness. As of today, only 11 out of 36 state governors are in the PDP, with more expected to defect to the APC in the coming months. How can a party claim to be a formidable opposition with such bleakness? I sincerely hope the NWC of the party can get their acts right and reposition the party. With what the party is experiencing at the moment, 2027 will be a walkover for the APC.”
Defection is opportunity for PDP, opposition to triumph- Okorie
However, a two-term House of Representatives member for Ohanivo Federal Constituency in Ebonyi state, Rt. Hon. Linus Okorie, told Blueprint Weekend the gale of defections is not the end of PDP, but an opportunity to re-strategise for the benefit of Nigerians.
He said: “The post-2023 political landscape in Nigeria has brought with it a distressing, yet, clarifying moment for the PDP and the broader opposition movement in the country. A once formidable party that held the reins of power for sixteen years has found itself ensnared in an unrelenting storm of internal contradictions, opportunistic defections, and a strategic vacuum that now threatens its very relevance. But even within this chaos lies an unusual opportunity, a moment for reinvention and transformation not only for the PDP, but for Nigeria’s democratic future.
“Since the 2023 general elections, the PDP has been bogged down in an intractable leadership crisis, worsened by the unresolved fate of its National Chairman and National Secretary. The moral quandary posed by the continued dualism of Nyesom Wike remaining a card-carrying PDP member while openly serving in the APC-led federal administration has eroded public trust. The instability in Rivers state, compounded by the party’s somersaults over court rulings and state structures, has laid bare its internal incoherence.
“Across several state assemblies and the National Assembly, PDP legislators have continued to cross the carpet in droves. The situation took a dramatic turn with the defection of the Governor of Delta state, his predecessor, and virtually the entire party structure in the state. Whispers of imminent exits from PDP-led states such as Akwa Ibom, Enugu, and Osun now ring louder with each passing day. These are not just cracks, they are seismic shifts.
“To many observers, these developments signal the end of PDP as we know it. But I hold a different view. What we are witnessing may in fact be the necessary collapse of a hollow shell, an implosion that clears the way for something more principled, coherent, and people-oriented to emerge. The defections, painful as they are, can serve as a cleansing moment, purging the party of self-interested actors and offering space for a generational reset.
“Now more than ever, the PDP must embrace bold, foundational reform. This moment calls for a new political imagination: one that reinvigorates the party’s structures from the grassroots up, redefines its ideological identity, and repositions it as a true opposition party with a clear alternative vision for Nigeria. The exodus of elite power brokers should not be mourned; it should be seen as liberation, a chance to re-center the party around loyal, reform-minded leaders and to re-engage directly with the Nigerian people.
“But the PDP must not act in isolation. Nigeria’s opposition, fragmented as it currently is, needs a unified strategic front if it is to have any hope of dislodging the APC in 2027. We must begin to think in terms of coalitions, not competition. The Labour Party, Social Democratic Party (SDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), and like-minded civil society movements must work with PDP reformers to articulate a common opposition agenda, one grounded in electoral reform, economic renewal, national security, and constitutional restructuring.
“2027 is still wide open. But time is of the essence. The opposition must act now, strategically, collectively, and courageously. If it does, this moment of collapse may yet become the cradle of rebirth, not just for the PDP, but for Nigeria’s long-suffering democracy.”