Defections: FG’s Marginalisation Forcing Governors, Others To Join APC, Says PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the Federal Government of marginalising governors, a move it claimed is forcing politicians to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

PDP spokesman Ini Ememobong said this on Tuesday during Channels Television’s end-of-year special programme, 2025 in Retrospect: Charting a Pathway to 2026.

“When you [reference to President Bola Tinubu] win an election with less than 40 per cent of votes, you begin from point one to do politics and if you check all the governors who have defected, especially from the PDP, you will hear one language: ‘We are connecting to the centre so that we can take benefits from the centre back home’,” the PDP spokesman said during the end-of-year review programme.

“What does that indicate? It indicates the inability of the Federal Government to run an egalitarian system. It shows nepotism where you are running a system based on which party you belong to.”

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The PDP has been severely depleted in recent months with the defection of governors, members of the National Assembly, and other top shots to the ruling APC.

In the National Assembly, the APC has an absolute majority with about 28 governors under its fold majorly due to defections from the PDP and other opposition parties.

Ememobong believes the defections, especially of governors, are an indication that “when you are in a different party, you are completely disconnected”.

The PDP, Nigeria’s ruling party from 1999 to 2015, is in crisis with two groups laying claims to its leadership.

It held a convention in Ibadan, Oyo State, in November amid contrary court orders: one asking the party to go ahead with the event and another telling the opposition to stop the exercise.

During the event, it elected a national leadership, but the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it won’t recognise the new officials.

Meanwhile, the APC has denied claims of making the country a one-party state, saying governors are joining the ruling party voluntarily.

“Even if anyone in the APC wished for a one-party state, it is virtually impossible under the prevailing constitutional legal framework to enact a one-party state,” APC spokesman Felix Morka said on the show.

“A one-party state doesn’t come by wishful thinking or by people being mischievous. What you are seeing is just the play of democracy.

“We all love democracy. When democracy plays the hard game, we begin to suspect democracy that democracy is transmogrifying,” he added.