BY EDITOR
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria’s leading opposition party, appears to be entering treacherous political waters as it grapples with a threefold crisis: zoning its 2027 presidential ticket to the South, rejecting one of its zonal leaders, and absorbing a shockwave from Osun State where its top officials have thrown support behind the sitting president from a rival party.
The PDP's recent announcement to zone its presidential ticket to the South has been billed as a strategy for inclusiveness and national balance.
According to Timothy Osadolor, the Deputy National Youth Leader, the decision is expected to be ratified during the next National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting — a gathering now charged with urgency and internal tension.
“This is a preparation towards our national convention and an effort to rebuild our internal structures. The ticket is now open to all qualified aspirants from the South,” Osadolor said.
While zoning is not new to PDP politics, coming at a time of simmering discontent, it may either rejuvenate the party's base in the South or deepen regional fractures. Already, political analysts are questioning whether this move is enough to unify the increasingly fragmented party or if it merely papers over deeper ideological cracks.
Perhaps more damaging than the zoning policy is the party’s South-East crisis. A powerful coalition of PDP stakeholders from the region has dealt a blow to the party’s internal credibility by rejecting Chief Ali Odefa as the National Vice Chairman (South-East).
Speaking in Abuja, stakeholder representative Seprebofa Oyeghe revealed that two court judgments delivered earlier in the year had affirmed Odefa’s expulsion from the party and recognized Egwu Chidiebere Goodluck as his lawful replacement.
“These judgments are binding and unchallenged. Any attempt to allow Odefa to function in any PDP capacity would be tantamount to contempt of court,” Oyeghe warned, in a direct caution to Acting National Chairman Umar Damagun.
What makes this episode more critical is that the NEC meeting already burdened with strategic decisions now risks being marred by legal threats and legitimacy questions over attendees.
The South-East bloc’s warning of legal consequences underscores the high-stakes political chess unfolding within the party.
Just as the dust was beginning to settle on zoning and leadership issues, a political earthquake from Osun State rattled the party establishment.
Governor Ademola Adeleke, a PDP governor, in a dramatic turn, endorsed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for a second term.
In a joint communique signed by Adeleke, his deputy, the Speaker of the State Assembly, and 24 PDP leaders, Tinubu was lauded as a “son of Osun” and a “symbol of continuity.” While the communique emphasized Adeleke’s continued loyalty to the PDP, the political symbolism of endorsing a rival party’s candidate could not be more striking.
Analysts view this move as both a survival tactic and an early declaration of future intentions. By tying Tinubu’s reelection to Osun's ethnic and regional pride, Adeleke may be testing the waters for broader political alignment or hedging his bets ahead of 2027.
Adeleke has since secured endorsement from the Osun PDP for a second term in 2026 suggesting that loyalty to the governor within the party remains intact, even if ideological coherence does not.
At the heart of all this is a single question: can the PDP survive these internal ruptures and emerge as a credible contender in 2027? The trio of crises contested zoning, judicial rejection of key figures, and public betrayal by a sitting PDP governor paints a picture of a party in flux.
As Nigeria inches closer to another decisive election cycle, the PDP must decide whether it will confront its contradictions or continue to stagger under the weight of unresolved disputes.
For now, unity seems elusive. And with every endorsement of an APC president, every court-backed leadership dispute, and every zoning proclamation met with factional murmurs, the PDP risks becoming a house divided and potentially, politically irrelevant.
