Who Will Save PDP as Diri Douye Abandons the Sinking Ship? 

It began like a quiet rumour carried by the coastal breeze of Yenagoa: Governor Douye Diri, the soft-spoken Bayelsan, had jumped ship. By mid-October, it was no longer speculation. The governor stood before a crowd in white shirts and orange flags, announcing that his heart—and his politics—now belonged to the APC.

Vice President Kashim Shettima led the welcoming committee. Senate President Godswill Akpabio smiled from the front row. Six governors from both the South and the Niger Delta turned up, marking what felt less like a defection and more like a coronation. Bayelsa, long painted in PDP blue, was suddenly leaning toward the centre’s red.

Diri called it a decision made “after extensive consultations.” The Bayelsa State Assembly quickly echoed his move: 23 members pledged their loyalty to the ruling party. Across the city, drums rolled and dancers filled the streets, their chants mixing celebration with a faint sense of history repeating itself.

For the PDP, the timing could not be worse.

In less than a year, four sitting governors have crossed into the APC: Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta), Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), Peter Mbah (Enugu), and now Diri. With 25 states under its control, the ruling party now enjoys a dominance unseen since the early Fourth Republic. Even the most seasoned political historians are struggling to recall when Nigeria last leaned this far to one side.

In the old days, defections came with drama: midnight meetings, court injunctions, and talk of betrayal. Now they feel routine, almost administrative. “Alignment for development,” the defectors call it, framing political migration as infrastructure policy.

Still, what becomes of an opposition when everyone wants to be on the winning team? The PDP, once Africa’s largest party, now watches its governors trade colours for comfort. Perhaps history’s next curiosity will not be how the APC grew, but how the PDP forgot how to stay.