Senators and other stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have dismissed the statement attributed to the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, that the PDP would go into extinction in 2025.
Reacting to Ganduje’s comment, Senator Austin Akobundu, representing Abia Central Senatorial District on the PDP platform, told New Telegraph in Abuja on Friday that Ganduje was merely expressing his personal opinion as APC Chairman.
Akobundu emphasized that Nigeria operates a multi-party democracy, and the defections of opposition members to the ruling party would not reduce the country to a one-party state. He stressed that democracy without opposition is dead.
Observing that defection is not new in Nigerian politics, Akobundu recalled that APC members had previously defected to the PDP, insisting that there is nothing unusual about the current wave of defections to the APC.
He said, “Ganduje was speaking his opinion as the party chairman. It is a multi-party affair. He is talking of the opposition party. So, he was expressing his personal opinion. We are running a multi-party democracy, and democracy without opposition is dead.
“Tell Ganduje that I said that PDP will not die before December. Don’t bring God into the matter, but PDP will not die. Defection is not new. There was also a time we had defection of APC people to PDP. This is not the first time. So, there is nothing unusual about this.
“In our own time, in their own case, both the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives defected to PDP. So, there is nothing special about this one as far as I am concerned.
“Defecting in large numbers doesn’t matter. If you check through record, you will see that we also had a large number of people defect to the PDP. So, defection is part of politics; there is nothing strange. Those of us who are resolutely loyal to the party will remain.
“Despite what has happened so far, I am also very optimistic that the crisis in the PDP will be resolved. Resolution of the crisis in PDP is work in progress; so, I don’t want to give you any timeline.
“There is no party without political misunderstanding. There is no party without disagreement; there is no party without its internal problems. Even the APC has its internal problems, and in the fullness of time, it will manifest because the cracks and cleavages are there. So, they will certainly manifest.”
Also responding to Ganduje’s statement, Kola Ologbondiyan, former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, faulted the APC National Chairman, describing the ruling party as a duplicitous political party with double or multiple faces.
He said, “It is an incorrect statement; totally incorrect. You know that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is a duplicitous political party. It has double or multiple faces. You can even draw this inference from the fact that while he (Ganduje) is saying that PDP will die in December, he is also saying he prefers that Nigeria becomes a one-party state like China.
“But on the other hand, the official spokesman of their party has come out to say that their party is not interested in making Nigeria a one-party state. If we are to help him interpret his statement, he is indirectly saying his party will kill the People’s Democratic Party in December. Then in another breath, the party’s spokesman is saying that they are not interested in one-party state. Which one should we take?
“You know that PDP is a party of Nigerians and also a party for Nigerians. In every election, the people decide and right now at what could be called midterm, Nigerians have already rejected the APC government. That is why if you go on the streets today, the only songs you’ll hear now are songs of lamentation. It’s about hunger; about the inability of citizens to pay for their basic needs such as electricity, water, food, and shelter.
“The song is about the inability to fuel their vehicles; about no money in their wallets; about no food and about insecurity. These are all songs of lamentation. As such, it is clear that if there is a midterm election today, Tinubu and the APC will lose. They can’t win a free and fair election because the people are not with them.
“Nigerians are just waiting for the People’s Democratic Party to retool itself and make the party ready for the 2027 election. Essentially what Nigerians are asking for is to put an end to all these crises in your party; retool the political party; make it viable and strong for positive impact, then we (the people) will be with you.
“In fact, with the schemes ongoing now, particularly in respect of the meetings — the Governors Forum meeting in Ibadan, the Governors Forum meeting which held at the Bauchi State Government Lodge in Abuja, and the schedules that the NWC of our party has already approved — it is clear that the party is now moving in the right direction.
“So, I urge all well-meaning Nigerians to disregard Ganduje’s prediction because it is totally incorrect. I must tell you that rather than dying, the PDP is bouncing back. On the scope of reality, PDP is coming back, and by the time it attains the fulfillment of its return, it is going to sweep off the APC from the political scene.”
