AT the entrance to the Wadada Plaza National Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja, a giant billboard beckons: “Elective National Convention, Ibadan 2025.” A second, equally imposing display, carries the photographs of the Governor of Adamawa State, Honourable Ahmadu Fintiri, and that of his Osun State counterpart, Senator Ademola Adeleke. While Fintiri, a former Speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly, is the Chairman of the PDP’s Convention Organising Committee, Adeleke, the mesmerising dancer, is his first deputy chairman. They lead 117 other eminent PDP bigwigs, both in and out of power, to plan a convention that will hopefully rejuvenate the foremost opposition party in Africa’s most populous country. The billboards have in their company, an enormous number of party flags and campaign posters of contestants in upcoming off-season elections in some states, all giving the ambience of a flurry of political activities.
Within the premises itself, the walls of the building, freshly-coated with the red, white and green colours of the PDP, pass a welcoming message and a reminder of a party remembered for making bold statements on national consciousness, a reminder of its domineering status in Nigeria’s political trajectory, pre-2015. Yes, that was the PDP of the days of yore. Times have raced quickly, now leaving the once ‘largest party in Africa’ fighting to reenact the glorious days once again.
When the going was rosy
To underscore the dominance of the PDP after the country returned to democratic traditions in 1999, the party produced 21 governors out of 36 at the conclusion of voting. The forerunners, some of blessed memory, were Abia, Orji Kalu; Adamawa, Boni Haruna; Akwa Ibom, Victor Attah; Anambra, Chinwoke Mbadinuju; Bauchi, Ahmed Adamu Mu’azu; Bayelsa, Diepreye Alamieseigha; Cross River, Donald Duke; Delta, James Ibori; Ebonyi, Sam Egwu; Edo, Lucky Igbinedion; Enugu, Chimaroke Nnamani; Imo, Achike Udenwa; Kaduna, Ahmed Makarfi; Kano, Rabiu Kwankwaso; Katsina, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua; Nasarawa; Abdullahi Adamu; Niger; Abdulkadir Kure; Plateau, Joshua Dariye; Rivers, Peter Odili; and Taraba, Jolly Nyame.
This dominance was replicated in both chambers of the National Assembly and in the majority of states, not mentioning the obvious the party produced the President in the person of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. In the 2003 governorship elections, the PDP upped the ante, delivering 27 out of the 36 states, a feat it also repeated in 2007. During the 2011 polls, four years later, another majority win of 23 governors out of the 36 states, was recorded. Those were rosy days indeed. So rosy that a former national chairman, the late Vincent Ogbulafor, predicted in 2008 that the party would rule Nigeria for an unbroken 60 years. But not done, one of its governors, Aliyu Akwe Doma of Nasarawa State, increased the predicted unbroken years for the PDP to 100.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Honourable Debo Ologunagba, recollects some of those momentous years and the cult followership that the PDP enjoyed across the country. He said: “Our party provided the best form of governance. Nigerians enjoyed the benefits of democracy low prices, good security, booming economy and the freedom to express and share opinions. The country witnessed good times, not like what you have today with the APC in power. Nigerians yearn for the PDP days; and that is our determination, to return to those beautiful days again.”
Where the withering started
However, after just counting 16 years in office, the tall dream faded in 2015 as the burble burst -owing to a mass of missteps, a fumbling government at the centre led by former President Goodluck Jonathan, arrogance, betrayal, the corruption of power, the exit of five sitting governors in 2014, which the party didn’t give a hoot, the looming image of the APC’s Muhammadu Buhari of blessed memory, and electoral reforms done in good fate but which trapped the ruling party -all signposting the arrival of the era of bad omen for the once flourishing political party. By the conclusion of voting in 2015, the PDP could now only boast of an initial six governors, out of its 2011 haul of 23 states. That election marked a significant decline for the PDP, as the APC won the majority of 19 states. The PDP managed to hold on mostly in the South-East and Niger Delta regions, including states like Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Plateau, and Oyo. This was a sharp drop in the number of states governed by the PDP compared to preceding elections from 1999 to 2011. While in 2019, the party made a recovery attempt to capture 14 governors out of the 36 states, in the succeeding 2023 polls dominated by the APC once again, the PDP dropped to six governors before the number increased to 12 after the conclusion of other results, including the off -season Osun election won by Adeleke.
Earlier in May 2025, Governor Sheriff Oborewori of Delta State, defected to the APC along with the party’s presidential running mate in the 2023 poll, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, while the entire state structure collapsed into the APC. His Akwa Ibom State colleague, Umo Eno, followed his example by dumping the PDP last June. With the developments, the party can now only boast of governors in 10 states -in Plateau, Adamawa, Zamfara, Bauchi, Rivers, Enugu, Bayelsa, Taraba, Oyo and Osun. Even at that, observers worry that not all the governors are 100 percent loyal to the PDP as there are rumours of nocturnal alliances with the APC and other platforms.
Ahead of the 2023 polls, a bitter rivalry involving its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and then governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, who led the famous ‘G-5 Governors’ – Samuel Ortom (Benue); Seyi Makinde (Oyo); Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu); Okezie Ipkazu (Abia) and Wike himself- over the zoning of national offices, including the presidency and the national chairman, tore the PDP to shreds with the result that internal sabotage brought the party to its knees by the time the votes were concluded.
That crisis, which the party was still unable to manage, post-elections, continued to be its Achilles heel, as Wike, a major financier dating back to 2015, engaged Atiku and several other key stakeholders in a battle for the control of the sole of the party, especially the office of national secretary which had to be resolved ultimately by the Supreme Court.
In July, the unavoidable happened. Atiku exited the PDP to join forces with many other politicians like David Mark, Nasir el-Rufai, Rotimi Amaechi and Peter Obi form a coalition under the African Democratic Congress (ADC) -with the sole agenda of retaking power from President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
A glimmer of hope
That exodus, though seen by political observers as another letdown for the PDP, brought some calm and paved the way for the Ambassador Umar Damagum-led National Working Committee to continue to push forward its rebuilding efforts through reconciliation, reforms and the eventual hosting of the party’s 101st NEC meeting after a hiatus. The July 25, 2025 meeting, witnessing an impressive turnout by party faithful, including some of those considered to be “aggrieved”, and participation of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), took bold decisions torching on reforms, party discipline and most importantly, agreeing to hold the 2025 Elective National Convention in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, from November 15 -16, 2025.
That critical meeting, which also received the backing of the PDP Governors’ Forum, the Board of Trustees (BoT) and the various caucuses, addressed the issue of rebuilding party structures with the main target of reclaiming power from the ruling APC by 2027.
From not being able to hold successful NEC meetings before July, the party now within a short space since July 25, has also held its 102nd NEC meeting, zoned its presidential ticket to the South, while retaining the national chairman in the North, and inaugurated a national convention organising committee.
The party has also held congresses in states and is currently selling nomination and expression of interest forms for national offices in line with the timetable of the Ibadan convention. Under the current arrangement, all existing national offices held by the North are retained in the region, including the National chairman, the presidency having gone to the South. The South will also retain all of its existing offices. The only alteration, however, is that the positions have been swapped among the geopolitical zones through micro-zoning. The swapping resulted in the following power structure in the South, for instance: South-West- National Secretary; National Auditor; and Deputy National Organising Secretary; South-South -Deputy National Chairman (South); National Publicity Secretary; Deputy National Treasurer; and Deputy National Legal Adviser; South-East- National Financial Secretary; Deputy National Secretary; National Women’s Leader; and Deputy National Youth Leader. The North has also been meeting on its allotted positions with no major rancour reported so far.
However, it hasn’t been all cool and calm for the party either. Some stakeholders and presidential hopefuls from the North have kicked against zoning the slot to the South on the grounds that the decision closed the door against them and other aspirants. The aggrieved members argue that the decision is not only undemocratic, but also at variance with both the spirit of the PDP and the 1999 Constitution, which makes no provision for zoning of political offices.
One of the strident voices, a former governorship candidate, Dr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, demanded that the party should throw the seat open to give opportunity for a zone like the North-Central, which has never produced the President or the Vice-President, to contest in 2027. “The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does not permit any party to zone an elected political office, such as the president, on account of region. It is discriminatory. That is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And this has never been done by any political party in Nigeria’s history”, Olawepo-Hashim repeated again in his relentless opposition to the decision.
In its response, the PDP, through the national publicity secretary, Honourable Debo Ologunagba, again doused tension by explaining that the fact of zoning the presidency to the South does not preclude other aspirants from pursuing their ambitions, a right freely given to all Nigerians by the 1999 constitution. Ologunagba, a former member of the House of Representatives, notes, “This decision, taken at our 102nd NEC meeting, is in the best interest of the party. What PDP is looking for is stability; we have to work together, taking the interests of all parts of the country along. This is not to say, however, that the party has disallowed anyone from going ahead to test their popularity. They are free to do so.”
FCT’s powerful minister, who is in the cabinet of the APC and also keeps his PDP membership card in his pocket, has also insisted there will be no convention except all stakeholders and leaders of the party are allowed to be fully involved in the decisions leading to the Ibadan elections. Specifically, the Wike camp gave the following conditions: that fresh, transparent, and inclusive congresses be conducted in Ebonyi and Anambra states in line with court judgments; that a fresh and legitimate South-East Zonal Congress must be conducted; that the outcome of the valid South-South Congress held in Calabar, Cross River State, recognised by the court, should be respected and that the Ekiti State Local Government Areas Congress should be conducted immediately according to a court judgment. They also emphasised that leadership positions must remain open, inclusive, competitive, and adhere to regional equity consistent with PDP traditions.
This seeming opposition notwithstanding, the mood at Wadada Plaza, and across the zones and states, on the surface, points to a party keen on reclaiming its lost glory, using the Ibadan convention as the real litmus test in the declared desire to upstage the APC in 2027. If there were doubts over a commitment, the recent bold declarations by the party’s governors and the NWC during the inauguration of the convention organising committee in Abuja, probably erased them, for now.
Speaking on behalf of the governors, their Chairman and Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed, dismissed the threats of the likes of Wike, saying that PDP members, not being cowards, would not continue to dance to tunes dictated by Wike and all those who belong to “a faction of fools.”
He said: “We are not cowards, and we are not afraid of anybody. We are capable of navigating this party beyond the shenanigans, beyond the arrogance, and beyond the impunity of others.
We cannot continue to take part and allow people to take us to the slaughterhouse. That’s our job. And our job is to make sure we don’t go to the slaughterhouse.”
Fintiri, who leads other 118 members of the organising committee, couldn’t say less, when he solicited the cooperation of party faithful in the rebuilding efforts. “I assure you that those who went to the ADC will soon fizzle away and even the APC will envy us. “Let us not be taking all the fights to the media. We are open and everyone is free to contest. Come and buy the form and test your popularity rather than rushing to the media all the time,” he said. In addition to these efforts, former President Goodluck Jonathan and Peter Obi, are being wooed to pick the party’s presidential ticket, at least Governor Mohammed confirmed this in his latest interview – giving a glimmer of hope for a possible turnaround for the fortunes of the PDP.
Will redemption come?
Do these efforts fade all the doubts for the party? Observers don’t believe so. Some governors have openly hobnobbed with President Tinubu and even shown support for his reelection in 2027. This conduct, seen by political watchers as double standards, and a clear anti-party misstep, already puts a spanner in the works for the PDP.
Some party members, including important heavyweights, till date, are sitting on the fence, undecided on whether to remain in the PDP or join the ADC coalition, or even defect to the APC. These figures are attending all political meetings but hold onto their PDP cards, raising loyalty and commitment questions. How will the Wike factor be addressed? It’s one question party power brokers shy away from answering without stammering. “There are signs that the PDP is on the path to self-recovery; reforms and reconciliation efforts are yielding results, but that is not enough. The leaders of the party must be decisive about discipline, they must wield the big stick; those who wish to leave must leave so that the in-house cleaning can be complete”, a Political Analyst, Dr Abdulganiyu Lanre, posits. This view is shared by Chief Daniel Ogoshi, a seasoned commentator, who said success for the PDP as a party would depend on how stakeholders “are prepared to cut down on their greed, reach compromise and shelve personal interests.” He adds: “What I see happening is that there are conflicting interests, and it’s all about individuals in the party positioning for 2027. “It means people can hold on to anything, even if it will be to the detriment of the collective interest of the party, so long as it will guarantee them a place in 2027. That is not good for the current rebuilding they are doing. But, there is hope, certainly, there is.”
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