Nigeria’s PDP: Why one-time political giant may face extinction

Internal power struggles, factionalism, insistence that power rotates through the regions and disciplinary measures have all added to the sense of disillusionment within the party.

The PDP has been robbed of high-profile figures and talent, including the loss of former Vice-President Atiku Aubakar last year.

The crisis was intensified by a debilitating leadership tussle.

In November 2025, a faction of the party, which observers say represented the majority of members, held a contentious national convention in Ibadan, Oyo state, despite court orders attempting to stop it.

The convention expelled Nyesom Wike, a prominent PDP member who is serving in President Bola Tinubu’s APC-led government.

Wike, who helped found the party, heads a rival faction creating a political stand-off that has paralysed the PDP.

He had controversially helped the APC win Rivers state in the last presidential election leading to accusations that he had betrayed the PDP.

But in the eyes of the law the faction that he heads is the legitimate party.

This means that it has been able to submit its slate of presidential and parliamentary candidates to the electoral commission leaving the rival faction without any representatives on the ballot.