As Defections Spark Fear of One-party State

With the recent defection of Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State from the Peoples Democratic Party to the ruling All Progressives Congress and the resignation of Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State from the main opposition party, the ruling APC will effectively take control of 26 states in the coming weeks, triggering the fear of Nigeria’s descent to a one-party state, Ejiofor Alike writes

The reign of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), once a ruling behemoth in the South-east, ended last Tuesday with the defection of Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah; his deputy, Ifeanyi Ossai; and the entire party structure in the state, to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Enugu was the last PDP state in the South-east as Imo and Ebonyi states had since been taken by the APC, while Anambra and Abia states have been under the control of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Labour Party (LP), respectively.

Mbah’s defection was long-expected, given the protracted leadership crisis in the PDP, and the failure of the party to meet his demands, coupled with his association with leaders and agents of the APC.

Earlier in May, the South-east PDP led by Mbah gave the former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki-led reconciliation panel of the party a list of conditions that would stop the defections of its leaders and members from the party.

One of the conditions was that the then National Youth Leader of the party, Sunday Ude-Okoye, should be retained as the party’s National Secretary. 

Following the retention of Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the party, it was not surprising that Mbah and his supporters dumped the main opposition party.

Addressing a mammoth crowd of supporters, who thronged the Michael Okpara Square, Enugu, to solidarise with Mbah, Vice President Kashim Shettima stated that Mbah had always been a part of the APC fold, even before he joined the governing party.

Barely 24 hours after Mbah’s defection, the Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri also resigned his membership of the main opposition party.

Though Diri was mum on his next political move, it is believed that his formal defection to APC is a matter of days.

With Diri on his way to the APC, the main opposition party has also lost the South-south geopolitical zone as the body language of PDP’s Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, reveals loss of interest in the activities of the PDP.

Governors Sheriff Oborevwori and Umo Eno of Delta and Akwa Ibom states, respectively, have since dumped the PDP for the APC.

With Mbah’s defection to the APC and Diri’s resignation from the PDP, the ruling APC has 24 governors, while the main opposition party has eight governors.

APGA, LP, NNPP produced only one governor each.

However, with Fubara being regarded as an APC governor-in-waiting and Diri’s imminent defection to APC in the coming days, the ruling party will be in firm control of 26 states – three in South-east, three in North-east, four in South-west, five in North-west, five in North-central, and six in South-south.

The shift in the political calculus of the country is believed to have made the 2027 elections a walk in the park for APC.

Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose has disclosed that three PDP governors out of the remaining eight will soon leave the party to APC, adding also that one of the five that will remain is targeting to clinch the party’s presidential ticket and use it to negotiate so that he won’t be probed after his tenure as governor.

Many Nigerians believe that the PDP governors are defecting to the APC to avoid a probe by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The spokesperson for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Mr. Paul Ibe, had reportedly claimed during a television interview, that the Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede and the Solicitor General of the Federation held a meeting with a current and former governor from a South-South state at a government lodge in the state, 48 hours before their defection to the APC.

But the EFCC’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, in a statement, dismissed the allegations as “unfounded” and “based on conjectures.” 

Oyewale reiterated that Olukoyede is “apolitical” and that the EFCC is “totally wired against partisan tendencies.”

However, the gale of defections has raised concerns about the country’s descent to a one-party state.   

While describing the defections to APC by his colleagues as act of cowardice, the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed had accused the APC-led federal government of using coercive tactics to weaken the opposition, saying the ruling party was bent on turning Nigeria into a one-party state.

“You know the style of leadership of the APC-led federal government in trying to make this country a one-party state. They have the power of coercion; they have the power of everything,” he said.

In its reaction, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) stated that the recent defections of some state governors to the APC had confirmed its claim on President Bola Tinubu’s plan to turn Nigeria into a one-party state.

National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, in a statement, said, “The recent defections by the governors of Enugu and Bayelsa States to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) validate the African Democratic Congress (ADC)’s long-standing warning that President Bola Tinubu is determined to turn Nigeria into a one-party state, no matter the cost to democracy or national stability.”

But Vice President Shettima, who represented Tinubu, during Mbah’s reception into APC, described his defection as an extraordinary endorsement of APC’s collective vision.

Shettima stated: “Much has been said about the ongoing wave of defections to our great party. What the opposition has failed to do is look into the mirror to ask why the APC remains the preferred destination of Nigeria’s most visionary political actors.

“Their departures are not accidents; they reveal the cracks in the walls they built and the strength of the bridges we have constructed,” Shettima argued.

On his part, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, said the governors and leaders of the PDP were joining the ruling APC because of President Tinubu’s capability and performance.

However, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, has dismissed fears of Nigeria sliding into a one-party state, insisting that no political party could “capture” any region simply because a governor defected to it.

Reacting to Governor Mbah’s defection to the ruling APC, Obi said the idea that a state can be “captured” by a political party through the defection of its leader belongs to Nigeria’s military past.

“The people will decide where to go, not governors or senators. No party will capture or win any state just because it has a governor,” Obi said.

Obi dismissed the notion that the South-east could be “captured” politically, insisting that leadership in a democracy is about persuasion, not coercion.