Nigeria’s democracy sinking, Tinubu’ll be greatest loser, says Lamido
 
Like a pack of cards, the embattled main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) started collapsing yesterday, when incumbent Delta State governor, Sheriff Oborevwori and his immediate predecessor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, laid speculations to rest by defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
 
Oborevwori, who was said to have succumbed after much pressure, announced his resignation from the ruling PDP in the state to join the broom-waving stakeholders in the APC.
 
Also, in the neighbouring Rivers State, apprehensions were high that the suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara may be on his way to the ruling party in what many have described as the build-up to the Southern solidarity expected to bolster President Tinubu’s chances of clinching a second term mandate.
   
Senator James Manager announced the defection of the governor and other party loyalists shortly after an enlarged stakeholders’ meeting yesterday, which spanned over six hours at Government House, Asaba, the state capital.
 
Announcing the defection, James Manager said, “The full PDP members in the state, including the governor, former governor Okowa, Speaker, the state party Chairman, all the Local Government Chairmen and others have agreed to move to APC.”
 
Also, the State Commissioner for Works (Rural) and Public Communications stated that the decision to defect was reached unanimously by the party’s leaders and stakeholders, emphasising the importance of this move for the overall development of the state.
 
“A significant announcement” concerning the PDP’s transition to the APC will be made by Monday. He emphasised that the change was due to “the state of politics in the PDP”, pointing out that the decision was reached collectively, rather than being an individual choice.
  
Stakeholders disclosed that Oborevwori’s defection has sealed his second-term ticket in the 2027 gubernatorial race.  One of the party loyalists told The Guardian that the governor has assured of running an open-door policy to accommodate both “old and new” APC members, noting that there is a move for the dissolution of the cabinet soon for new appointments.
 
“In a few days, the governor will also dissolve his cabinet to accommodate other APC members. The arrangement will be a 60/40 thing. The APC will take 40 while the PDP will take 60 in the new cabinet to be formed quickly. As we move on, other things and plans will be unveiled. The 60/40 will also be applied in the structure of the state party,” he said.

Osun lawmaker
IN Osun State, a federal lawmaker, representing Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency, in the House of Representatives, Honourable Oluwole Busayo Oke, has also resigned his membership of the PDP.
 
Oke, a six-term member of the lower chamber, in a resignation letter dated April 16, which was addressed to the PDP chairman, Ward 7, Obokun Local Government Area of Osun State, said his decision to quit the party came after consultation with his political associates, family and friends.
 
The copy of the letter sighted by The Guardian was also copied to the national chairman of the PDP, the Osun State chairman of the party, Mr Sunday Bisi and the chairman of the PDP in Obokun Local Government.
 
Confirming his resignation from the PDP, Oke said: “It is true that I have resigned from the PDP.” In a viral video, it would be recalled that Oke had recently expressed his dissatisfaction with the party and administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke, saying he had been sidelined along with others, who financed and laboured to build the PDP in Osun State.
 
Besides, shortly after the former governor of Osun State and immediate past Minister for Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, who is the leader of Omoluabi Progressives, exited the All Progressives Congress (APC), few months ago, he charged the PDP in the state to woo the ex-Governor, to boost the party’s electoral fortune ahead of 2026 gubernatorial poll.
 
However, Oke did not disclose his next move on which political party he plans to join after dumping the PDP.

A one-party state?
A founding member of the APC, Osita Okechukwu, however, ruled out the prospects of Nigeria becoming a one-party state.
 
Okechukwu told The Guardian in Abuja shortly after Governor Oborevwori dumped the opposition PDP for the APC, remarked that the nature of the political terrain in the country would not pave the way for a one-party state.
 
“I am not a fan of a one-party state. But I am not afraid, because the internal political dynamics of Nigeria are combustible,” he said.
 
“As they join the APC, some are defecting; it is the tale of defections and defections till thy kingdom comes.” Nevertheless, he described the decision by Oborevwori to join the APC as a welcome development since it would afford him the golden opportunity to continue to advance his “good works” in Delta state.
 
The Enugu-born politician argued that the development is a clear vindication of his stance that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his clan in the PDP willfully breached the rotation convention and Section 7 of the PDP’s Constitution.
 
He noted: “One imagined then the irony that those who benefited immensely from rotation convention were the ones who breached it. Governor Sheriff and Co. defection is the unintended consequence of such an unforced error of demolishing the ligament holding our dear country.
 
“As per the 2027 presidential election, they’re at it again with an awkward permutation of 17 years South and 11 years North, if President Tinubu wins a second term, as if Nigeria had become independent in 1999.
 
“I think they were on the wrong premise that the northern electorate, one of the most sophisticated electorates in the country, were quarantined in a dormitory, from whom they would be railroaded to polling booths to vote for PDP during the 2023 presidential election.”
Oborevwori must go!

Slamming the governor of Delta, a former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Bode George, expressed shock over the defection of some governors from the PDP to the APC.
 
George noted that the PDP sponsored Oborevwori as the governorship candidate, and now “he has to leave office”.
“I am shell-shocked. How can our governors from an organised party defect to an unorganised party like APC with only two people – Tinubu and Ganduje – dictatorially controlling the party?”
 
He described APC as a party of strange bedfellows and urged Deltans not to follow Oborevwori to APC, emphasising that Delta is a PDP state and shall remain so.
 
He said: “Presidency and APC are using instruments of state to coerce PDP governors to defect to APC. They are being threatened.”George warned that attempts to turn Nigeria into a one-party state will fail, questioning what the APC has achieved since 2015 that would warrant any PDP governor to defect.
 
“What has APC done since 2015 that will warrant any PDP governor to defect to the party?”  But, a founding chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sule Lamido, regretted that democracy and the ship of the Nigerian state are collapsing, stressing that even though all will drown, the President would be the greatest loser.
  
He noted that it was a mark of political indiscipline and lack of ethical stamina that politicians would jump ship after gaining electoral and political limelight from a particular political party.
  
Lamido, who spoke to The Guardian on the massive defection of the entire PDP structure in Delta State, said that no matter what happens to the party in the days to come, PDP remains the cradle of democracy in Nigeria.
  
He said, “Well, tell me, who is instigating all these defections? It is Tinubu. And he’s set to lose more than anybody else. In Nigeria, if the PDP collapses, it’s a sign that democracy is going to collapse. Therefore, he’s set to lose more than any other Nigerian. It’s up to him, it is what is called democracy, what is called constitutionality, what is called legality, what is called ethos and ethics of the office he is occupying.
  
“And, therefore, if he turns it into a kind of political office, therefore, I am just sorry to say, it will destroy his own presidency, his own political life, that’s all. So, I wish him well. Let him destroy the PDP. By the time PDP collapses, he’ll be under it, under the ruin of PDP.”
  
The former Jigawa State governor said even if he was going to be the last man, he would not contemplate quitting PDP, asking rhetorically, “Leave PDP and go to where?”
 
He remarked that it was gratifying that virtually everybody who has become somebody in Nigerian politics came from the PDP. “I mean, who is the PDP composite in Nigeria’s history today? Remove it (PDP), there is no Nigeria. Anybody who is now shouting APC is PDP.
  
“The chairman of APC is Ganduje, the Senate President Akpabio, the speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, is our own man, alright, former chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu, I mean anybody you see today in Nigeria is all PDP.
 
“So, to me, Tinubu is very clever, but it’s only being too clever by half, simply because destroying PDP means destroying Nigeria, and destroying his own presidency, thinking that nothing concerns me?” he stated.

2027: A North and South contest
In another reaction, National Chairman of APGA, Chekwas Okorie, expressed worries over the defection of Oborevwori and all members of the PDP to the APC.
 
He stated that the move indicates a serious divide between North and South, leading to stiff opposition that may mar or make Nigeria in 2027.  Okorie said: “It is not a matter of the ruling party having such an upper hand that will diminish opposition. I no longer see a battle between the ruling and opposition parties. I am seeing a battle between the North and the South, with the Middle Belt holding the ace, and it will be dangerous. 
 
 “The sentiment that is being promoted by those who want power is not a good one. Nobody is talking now about issues. Issues have gradually receded into the background. Of course, Nigeria has never been ideologically based, so the issue of ideology is completely absent. Ethnicity has taken the centre stage, and sectionalism, which is what the North and South represent, seems to be what will play out in 2027.
 
“So, I have a strong feeling that more governors from the south will soon join the APC. I would like to see how governors in the North will respond. But, governors or no governors, how the ordinary people will respond to this is what will determine whether Nigeria will go through a successful election and survive thereafter or go into a war in the name of election and perhaps be badly damaged as a country thereafter.”
 
It was gathered that the defections explained President Tinubu’s nonchalant disposition towards the planned coalition of opposition politicians led by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar and former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai.
  
As for now, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) controls two out of the South-East states, Imo and Ebonyi, while PDP hold sway in Enugu, just as Labour Party and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Secret meeting in London
Yesterday, political actors in Rivers State were occupied with various perspectives on the emerging political power game as they demanded that the suspended governor disclose details of his secret meeting with President Tinubu in London.
 
But words making the rounds in the state insinuated that the meeting was a prelude to the embattled governor’s defection to the ruling APC as a condition for his return to office after the six-month suspension.
 
Residents of Rivers, including public analysts and leaders of ethnic nationalities, said the Rivers State matter has gone beyond Fubara, Tinubu and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, hence, they should be in the know of any conversation.
 
The residents said the matter is now Rivers State versus Tinubu and Wike.  A political analyst and spokesman of the Civil Society Organisation, Sunny Dada, said Fubara should not be coerced to enter into alien agreements like he did before.
 
Commenting on the general happenings among the opposition governors across the country, Dada said, the opposition governors appear afraid, adding that the President is using strong-arm tactics to coerce them.
 
“This is why there are suspensions here and there, governors are swiftly suspending traditional rulers, any small conflict in a community, you see the governors suspending the traditional rulers because they are afraid that the president may use it as an excuse to declare a State of Emergency in their various states. So, we see governors becoming very timid about speaking up against the ills of the presidency.”
 
Also, the APC State Publicity Secretary, Chibuike Ikenga, said the party could not easily react to sensational comments, stating that they were yet to confirm the alleged meeting of the President in London.
 
“Those who midwifed the meeting know the agenda. Until the agenda is made known, we can’t speak on mere speculation,” he stated.