If the once-powerful opposition Peoples Democratic Party were to be alive and its punctured destiny still hale and hearty; if the party leaders had had the courage to confront Nyesom Wike and his many shenanigans in the wake of his sudden alliance with the APC, despite still having the PDP’s umbrella over his head, the inspired opposition against one man for enjoying his fundamental freedom of association, as enshrined in Section 40 of the constitution, wouldn’t have given some people sleepless nights amidst the obvious misfortune that has befallen the camp of the once-vibrant party, which threatened to rule for 60 years but could only be in power for 16 years after it experienced an implosion.
Nyesom Wike is the indefatigable hurricane that was programmed not only to wreck the party but to convert it into an appendage of the ruling All Progressives Congress. The smart, mercantilist, and cerebral politician in Wike leveraged the weakness of the PDP to hijack a ministerial slot in Bola Tinubu’s government. Interestingly, he promised not to leave the party despite hobnobbing with his new leader, Bola Tinubu. Irrespective of his new allegiance, Wike keeps attending every national meeting of the party, insisting that the constitution must be strictly adhered to. Despite breaching part of the constitution, he advocates for fair rotation of the right to contest as a paramount provision of the party’s constitution. When he says this, he has his eyes fixed on a southern candidate for president in 2027, so Bola Tinubu can have a soft landing. Come to think of it, if Seyi Makinde, a G5 governor, clinches the party’s presidential ticket in 2027, why would one not think he will sell out to APC’s Bola Tinubu, just like he did during the election that produced Tinubu for the first time?
After militating and attempting to seize the building embodying the national headquarters of the party, he now has the National Secretary of the party in his pocket. He is willing to even send Atiku packing from PDP and inherit its carcass. Atiku is on his way to ADA.
On May 28, 2025, the media space was struck by a high-profile defection to the APC from the PDP. The only face of the party in the House of Representatives from Ondo State and a former Deputy Governorship Candidate, Hon. Festus Akingbaso, has chosen to pursue his political career in a fresh political terrain after having consistently remained a member of the PDP for many years. While breaking the story, Legit.ng, in its gripping title, writes: “PDP Suffers Another Loss As Lawmaker Defects To APC, Video Trends.” This story, imprinted on the faces of our national newspapers, was received with mixed feelings in political circles. Patriotic APC members rushed to applaud the thoughtful decision by the opposition lawmaker, while his traducers in the ruling party were unsettled as they silently nursed their wounds; they needed to critically examine their political future in light of the sudden development that catapulted hurricane Akingbaso to the APC. “Is he coming to dislodge us? What and who fueled his defection into the APC?” These were the questions popping up in their minds amidst the loud ovation that greeted his high-profile defection, juxtaposed with the boos and jeers from his bereaved party, the PDP.
The leaders of the PDP were uncomfortable with the reality that jolted them; their only representative in the political firmament of Ondo State has left them behind to join the ruling APC, not to pay a visit but to be part and parcel of the new party. In reaction, they gathered at beer joints, made phone calls, and considered taking back their mandate through the courts but were suddenly overwhelmed by the crisis that has gripped, shattered, and castrated the opposition PDP. This crisis has festered into a division as envisaged by section 109 (1) (g) — the soul of this party is now torn to shreds by forces beyond control and without face, much like the temple’s linen at the crucifixion and death of Jesus. That was when it finished! Oh gosh.
Section 109 (1) (g) of Nigeria’s constitution says: “A member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if, being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected.
Meanwhile, it further said: “Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member, or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.”
In a bid to vent its bottled-up anger, the leadership of the party convened a meeting of condolences at its Secretariat, where it spoke eloquently about its current state after life was snuffed out of it by the badass political wizardry of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the hurricane who will not rest until opposition politics is laid to eternal rest and a supposed government of national unity is glorified. The party did well by procuring a media influencer to put its plight in the spotlight. The Mourner-In-Chief and Chairman of the Party, a skilled wordsmith, addressed the gathering regarding the recent loss that befell Ondo PDP, insisting that the party was betrayed by a character who enjoyed its goodwill but could not stay during the party’s trying time. He insisted that the party is still strong despite his defection. It was his intuition that the people have rejected the empowerment program put forth by the Honourable, as it remains a ploy to lure devoted members of the party to the new party. He concluded that the PDP delivered him without obtaining money but that he defected to the APC with the party’s mandate. He forgot to mention that they forced him against his will to take the Deputy Governorship slot of the party despite his public rejection. It is interesting that wordsmiths are fond of speaking from both sides of their mouths; the Chairman, in his opening remarks at Owa’s palace during the town hall meeting that celebrated Akingbaso’s sixth month in office, stated unequivocally that Akingbaso was delivered by not only PDP members but the APC. What now changed? How did the people’s mandate become that of self-serving party leaders?
Individuals who have chosen to cast the first stone at Akingbaso for defecting to the APC should accept to be schooled by reason. As far as Nigeria is concerned, there is nothing ideological about its political parties. Their constitutions serve as cloaks for members with no relevance. In the long run, they are synonymous with dead letter laws.
What is the PDP saying? If it insists it gave Akingbaso’s mandate, how about the devoted PDP members who worked assiduously for the candidate’s election into the House of Representatives but are now in the ruling APC? Are they more principled than these selfless members of the party who agreed to let go by choosing to explore newer terrains despite their investments? Is it fair to exclude these once loyal PDP members from the story that birthed Akingbaso’s emergence solely due to their defection to the ruling APC?
On July 22, 2023, when a tsunami of defections engulfed the PDP in Idanre, with the likes of Professor Jones Jejelola (PDP), Dn. Olasoji Kehinde (PDP), Hon. Ojo Adebusuyi (PDP), Pastor Marcus Adeuti (PDP), Hon. Akinlalu Akinjide (PDP), Chief Banji Kuroloja, Omonehin Akintunde (PDP), Hon. Oludele Felix (PDP), Akinbowa S. Oladipupo Sanya, Akinnuoye Olayinka K., Chief Obafemi Olubuyima (Kacella), Barr. Asowo Oladele Shosilva, Arch. Chief Idowu Akinseye, Mr. Tobi Omogbemi (Brigadier), among others defecting to the APC, nobody wrote to scold them despite their claims to have put an end to opposition politics in the Local Government Area. These political juggernauts were part of the mobilization that brought Akingbaso as MHR. Are they to be exempted from this story of resilience on the grounds of their mere defection to the APC? Akingbaso’s opponent in the primaries and former Commissioner for Information in the State, Kayode Akinmade, has defected to the APC and currently works in the APC government of Dapo Abiodun in Ogun State. Similar is the defection of Senator Patrick Ayo Akinyelure, a Ranking Senator under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who had reasons to decamp to the APC a year ago; he was one of the forces that campaigned vigorously for Hon. Festus Akingbaso. His defection was never challenged by the PDP.
The House of Assembly candidate of the party, Oyewole Aderemi, had defected long before Akingbaso. He was reportedly imposed on the party in an atmosphere of terror and obvious contravention of known party rules regarding character and financial war chest. The party forcefully sidelined his opponents but ultimately lost the slot amid a similar atmosphere of terror and massive rigging by the APC. Having defected to the same APC whose candidate he challenged in the Appeal Court, he is now honored as the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Ayedatiwa on Interparty Affairs. Not once have the leaders of the party publicly challenged a candidate who benefited so much from their goodwill for accepting an appointment from a party with opposed ideology. After all, Mr. Aderemi vowed never to join the APC at least twice in front of this author. One would now want to probe further into the inspiration behind the recent dramatic performance and the noise surrounding Akingbaso’s defection. Is it in the interest of the people or some self-serving party leaders?
I am disappointed by the mannerisms of our younger generation, who are swayed by the sophistries deployed by the bitter leadership of the PDP in scandalous allegations they have remained silent about until now. Who is deceiving whom? Hon. Mayokun Akinmoladun, a respected politician in the Local Government Area, erred by publicly engaging his audience with scandalous allegations he has chosen to ignore until Akingbaso had reasons to defect from his party. He also disappointed by barely mentioning the people in his long, hot expletives. When he cautions PDP members against cyberbullying Hon. Akingbaso, he suggests they should unleash themselves on social media and utter lies against him. Don’t be surprised if you see him the next morning leading the media war with a carefully written statement of propaganda aimed at the easy-going man. Politically savvy yet suave, Honourable Mayokun serenaded the public with his personal challenges at the expense of who—the public? He also mentioned a sum of money he demanded as a matter of right, insisting on fomenting trouble unless he or the party is compensated. If his political statements, which now tilt toward promoting another APC politician he claims has done so much in two years, are driven by grandstanding and pride over resources that should benefit the people, should he be taken seriously at all?
To the best of my knowledge, being in opposition has not helped Hon. Akingbaso or his federal constituency. While the people yearn for strategic decisions that will birth developmental projects, the PDP is hell-bent on retaining the House of Representatives member it allegedly produced at the expense of the people’s votes, all to bolster its internal party structure. It is not concerned about his motions or bills seeing the light of day amidst a cult of party loyalists who will do anything to crush the opposition. For the PDP, it is distasteful dirge filled with dry condolences without consequences!
