PDP FLOPPED SO HARD, LOSES CONFIDENCE OF NIGERIANS – SUSWAM
By Eric T. Adah
Speaking on Arise Television’s ‘The morning Show’ on Tuesday,’ Senator Gabriel Suswam, former Governor of Benue state lamented that many people and stakeholders are no longer interested in the Peoples Democratic Party because of its lingering crisis and leadership failure.
There are many fundamental problems in the PDP and those problems have not been sorted out.” So, a lot of people, in their minds, are no longer in the PDP, a lot of stakeholders, and that is because of the failure of leadership in the PDP”, he stated.
He maintained that for the PDP to stand a chance in the 2027 presidential election, it has to fix its leadership problem and present a credible candidate.
The ex- governor condemned the practice of giving the party’s presidential ticket to the highest bidder. He stressed that the PDP, with its structure all over the country, should not be struggling to win elections. Suswam highlighted two factors that can enhance the PDP’s chances in the next election. “The first is transparent leadership. People have lost confidence in the PDP completely. This is a party that has structures all over the country, but because of a lack of good leadership, the party has diminished substantially. The second issue is the candidate, when we talk about candidates, let us have people who have interest. It is not just about somebody sitting and saying I want to be presidential candidates of the PDP, that will not suffice “.
Suswam’s comment followed the PDP Governors’ resolution not to join any coalition or merger ahead of the 2027 presidential election, despite the position of Atiku Abubakar, a founding member of the party and its presidential candidates in the last election who is angling for a coalition.
Notwithstanding the fact that Atiku being an arrowhead of the coalition, the PDP Governors,’ in a communique, released after their meeting in Ibadan, Oyo state capital, on Monday, April 14, 2025, saying; The party will not join any coalition or merger “.
Hours after the governors’ meeting, Chief Bode George, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees, rejected the possibility of Atiku getting the ticket again.
Atiku, who was the party’s presidential candidate in the 2019 and 2023 presidential elections, has been contesting Nigeria’s presidency for over three decades.
George said Atiku’s emergence as the party’s 2027 presidential candidate would signify the end of the PDP in Nigerian politics.
The Transmitter correspondent chatted with a PDP chieftain in Makurdi, who spoke on the condition of anonymity and blasted Senator Suswam for shifting the blames of the party’s failure to other people, he stated that the former governor cannot exempt himself from those that have failed the party, he said the party’s problems started when Suswam and some party members returned the party’s presidential ticket to the North in 2023 election while the zoning was to shift to the south according to the party’s constitution. He said there was no reason to maintain the presidency in the north after president Buhari completed his eight years tenure and, for justice and equity, the party should have zoned it to a southerner but some party members went and collected money from the presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and gave him the ticket.
He noted that even at the state level, zoning was no longer followed, but it was clearly a case of the highest bidder gets it against the wishes of the electorates.
He said the PDP will continue to lose members until the party addressed the issue instead of shifting blames.
The Transmitter gathered that many PDP State Governors, national assembly members, state assembly members and other PDP chieftains are planning to dump the party and pursue their political career elsewhere.
It will be recalled that the Governor of Delta state, Deputy Governor, former Governor Okowa, the Speaker and all the state assembly members from the people’s democratic party PDP have decamped to the All progressive Congress APC.
