There is palpable anxiety and unrest in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over plans by five of its governors to defect in the coming days.
Information gathered revealed that two of the governors are serving their second terms, while others are serving their first terms, according to information obtained by the Daily Sun.
Join our WhatsApp community
The PDP ruled 13 states following the national elections in 2023, including the states of Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Osun, and Oyo.
Other states that have governors from the opposition party include Adamawa, Taraba, Zamfara, Plateau, and Bauchi. In Edo State’s most recent off-season governorship election, however, the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated the PDP.
The PDP now has just 10 states after Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevberi and his Akwa Ibom counterpart Umo Eno, together with members of their Houses of Assembly and other party leaders, recently defected to the APC.
According to reports, the ruling APC is stepping up its efforts to woo five of the PDP’s surviving governors to defect from the opposition.
A member of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) confirmed to news correspondents that the APC is making concerted efforts to win over some of PDP governors, especially those from the South. This is said to be a part of President Bola Tinubu’s strategy for the next general elections.
Join our WhatsApp community
The NWC member claimed that the APC wants to control all of the Southern states in order to support President Tinubu’s second chances, but he asked to remain anonymous due to the delicate nature of the matter.
However, Bala Mohammed, the governor of Bauchi State, has maintained that the PDP’s ongoing problems and defections were being planned from outside.
The Bauchi governor, who spoke at a meeting of the PDP NEC, yesterday, said: “We have been engrossed in controversies and challenges, not created by us, but created for us, and we have been navigating, unlike the other parties, irrespective of the manifestations and the perceptions there.
“The news of people leaving the party are all cosmetic. They are all created to diminish us.”
Meanwhile, Senator Samuel Anyanwu’s reinstatement as national secretary was confirmed by the PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) yesterday.
Senator Adolphus Wabara, the BoT, praised the NWC members for their commitment to cooperating for the party’s benefit. He asked the party leaders to prevent such cracks from occurring in the future.
He said, “We shall survive. The god of politics is in this party. Allah politics is in this party. For anybody, any other party, to succeed, we have to release our God to bless them. But our God knows that PDP is the beacon of hope for this country.”
Members of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) were supposed to convene at the NEC Hall by 10am, but there was a commotion when the security personnel, who had taken control of the main entry into the party secretariat, blocked their admittance. Tension at the Wadata Plaza increased when some PDP secretariat employees objected to the BoT members’ inability to enter the meeting space.
Join our WhatsApp community
Umar Tsuari, the former national secretary of the PDP, informed reporters that no meetings were permitted at the Wadata Plaza and that the security personnel were acting on directives from the top.
As a result, the BoT was forced to move its meeting to the Central Business District (CBD) of Abuja, specifically to the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre.
Join Our Social Media Channels:
WhatsApp: NaijaEyes
Facebook: NaijaEyes
Twitter: NaijaEyes
Instagram: NaijaEyes
TikTok: NaijaEyes
