National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ini Emembong, says governors and lawmakers leaving the party now are fair weather friends. In an interview monitored in Abuja, he says PDP will rebound before the 2027 general elections, ONYEKACHI EZE brings excerpts from the interview
We’ve had another defection from your party, the governor of Taraba State. His Plateau counterpart, Caleb Mutfwang has also announced his resignation. He has thanked your party for the opportunity given to him but, citing the recent crisis within the party, he has had to exit. How is the party processing this?
Well, as usual, nobody is happy to lose anybody, especially since politics is a game of numbers. But when reality sets in and people take decisions that the constitution and the law permit them to take, you have to accept it. However, there are usually two methods of looking at things: legally or morally. While it is legally permissible to do so, it speaks to the morality of the people taking the decision.
Looking at it frontally, the party is not happy about the state of affairs, which is why the current administration is doing all within its power to address it. We’ve been having meetings. But you know, it’s about perception—I can’t control what a person sees. What a person sees may be very far from reality; it is about the faith of the person to walk through a process.
There are people who are fair-weather friends. When you come to the point where people say, ‘I can no longer go with you,’ what do you do? We are building a ‘Gideon’s Army.’ It’s not about the numbers; eventually, it will be about the people who believe.
This is a rebirth process for us. This party was built by a few people, and many people eventually became beneficiaries of what those few built. If you look at the APC, the AD (which is where the APC originally came from) was down to only one governor—Bola Tinubu—after the 2003 elections. That did not stop them from rebuilding.
We have a history in our country where an opposition party has rebuilt from one governor. When the PDP started in 1998, there were no governors or senators. The people came together and made the governors and senators. So, if the people made by the party have left, we are going back to the people who made them and saying, ‘We are rebuilding this party.
We want a rebound, a rebirth, and a retake.’ It’s a tough place to be for the PDP right now—losing eight governors in the space of one year is a record. At this rate, it has been said that by the middle of this year, the PDP won’t have any governors left. If you lost eight in one year, you could lose the remaining four in six months.
I understand the moral and legal angles, but what do these governors see in the APC? The PDP consistently says the APC is not the best for Nigeria, yet your governors are flocking there.
It is the re-emergence of the fact that we are playing politics without principles. If you go back to the 2023 campaign speeches of the people defecting today, you would hear the terrible things they said about the APC. The question for them is: what has changed? Is it just a matter of convenience and comfort?
The true test of a person of principle is not in times of convenience; it is in times of inconvenience and great contradiction. That is when people stand true to their values.
This mass drift affects governance critically. For example, the President unilaterally approved a waiver writing off the indebtedness that NNPC was supposed to bring to the Federation Account.
That happens because almost all the governors are now with them. It’s impossible for the governors to invoke the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to question the President. The federation is made up of local, state, and federal governments; the president cannot unilaterally wipe off monies owed to the collective. The question for these defectors will come during the 2027 campaigns.
Looking at it frontally, the party is not happy about the state of affairs, which is why the current administration is doing all within its power to address it
We will simply play their 2023 campaign speeches against their 2027 speeches.
They claim they need a stable platform, but the problems in the PDP were caused by human beings—and they were the leaders of the party when these problems existed. When you point one finger at the PDP, four are pointing back at you. This is a party that stood by them during personal crises, certificate scandals, and age declaration court cases.
The party stood firm when they had “cancer,” yet they are running away now that the party has “pneumonia,” which is treatable. The painful thing is that the Certificate of Return they carry has the “Peoples Democratic Party” written on it. Their faces were not on the ballot; the party logo was.
Do you think these eight governors made a grave mistake?
Absolutely. In 2027, when the results come, they will have regrets as a permanent reminder that principle matters.
How will the party stand ahead of the 2027 general elections? INEC has refused to recognise the Turaki-led faction of the PDP. How will you present a presidential candidate or governorship candidates if your leadership isn’t recognised?
We are in the Court of Appeal, and we expect the matter to be dispensed with in first quarter (of this year). We have filed motions for accelerated hearing.
Regarding the situation in Ekiti, we are taking legal steps to ensure our candidate is recognised. We are passing through a rebirth process. It is painful, but we are rebuilding along the lines of value.
We must acknowledge that imposition and anti-democratic practices had taken root in our internal processes. Ironically, the beneficiaries of those wrongs are the ones pointing fingers today. Our administration is ensuring that the will of the ordinary member is heard alongside the voice of a governor or senator.
Will your candidate in 2027 perhaps be the (Oyo State) state governor?
The governor has not declared yet. I saw an interview where he said he is qualified to be president. When it is time for nominations, people will declare their interest.
But right now, we need to build the platform first. You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand. Every presidential ambition must stand on the solid base of a united party.
Who is actually in charge of the PDP now? On the INEC website, you see Ambassador Iliya Damagum as Chairman and Senator Samuel Anyanwu as Secretary. Then you have the Wike/Muhammad group, and your side with Turaki. Who is actually in charge?
There are facts and then there is the operation of law. In fact, the party machinery and all organs respond to the Turaki-led administration. In law, Damagum’s name is still on the INEC website because of a court judgement restraining them from accepting the outcome of the Ibadan convention.
We are challenging that in the Court of Appeal. In reality, there is no argument. The state Chairmen, the BoT, and the National Assembly caucus all interact with Turaki. Senator Damagum even handed over to Turaki, and the pictures exist. Democracy is a game of numbers, and the numbers stand with Turaki.
Regarding the national secretariat of your party, who is in control of the building now?
The police have arbitrarily put the secretariat under lock and key, and we are in court over that. But a political party is like a church; it is about the souls of the people. Where the soul of the party is, there the party is. Currently, that soul is administered and controlled by Turaki.
Let’s talk about the economy. President Tinubu’s New Year message claimed that 2026 will mark a robust phase of growth and that inflation is now below 15%. If the APC’s ‘bus’ is reaching its destination, why should Nigerians switch to the PDP?
It is good to be optimistic, but when you speak about the economy, you must cite your sources. According to the NBS (National Bureau of Statistics) inflation was much higher in Q3.
Are Nigerians feeling the data? Economics is about the price of a bag of garri. This administration tries to distance itself from the last eight years of the APC, but we take them as a collective.
You can’t say you “inherited a dead economy” when you were the ones who promoted and campaigned for it for two terms. Last year didn’t look good. Insecurity is high, and people cannot go to their farms without negotiating with bandits. When inflation hits food, everyone suffers.
Regarding the tax laws implemented (from January 1), the people don’t even have the law yet. Trust is a critical element of compliance. If the parliament did not input a specific adjective into a law and the executive added it anyway, that law becomes invalid. We hope the government listens more to the people this year and stops politicizing the economy.
Will there be an alliance with another party for 2027, given that you only have a few governors left?
In the last election, we didn’t have a governor in Plateau, yet we won the state. We took over governments from other parties. The people who made that happen are still there.
We are losing qualitative members (elites), but we are not losing quantitative members (the masses). As for alliances, when electoral authoritarianism becomes a reality, the opposition must come to an understanding. Those discussions will flow. But the PDP will not join another party; we are a distinct soul.
Will the PDP merge with the ADC or form a coalition?
The legal period for a merger is over. However, opposition leaders are talking to themselves. When the time is ripe to decide who can best beat the incumbent, the PDP will be a very strong part of that discussion.
