Tajudeen Yusuf, a former House of Representatives member, has accused some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors of deliberately stoking internal discord within the party to create an excuse for defection.
Speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme on Thursday, Yusuf described the strategy as calculated and warned that the PDP is currently navigating one of its worst phases in opposition.
“Some of the governors consciously allowed this crisis to continue — just to find a justifiable ground to move,” he said. “Any time I look at it, I ask, how could you, after a supreme court judgment, direct the national working committee to ask the deputy secretary to act? So, by implication, you are extending the frontier of the crisis.”
Yusuf blamed part of the party’s troubles on its deviation from the zoning principle during the 2023 presidential election, saying the decision deepened internal fractures.
“In 2023, we deviated from our fundamental principles of zoning presidency,” he said. “If you remember, in 2014, the agitation was that Yar’Adua didn’t complete his term and Goodluck Jonathan had taken over, and to a lot of people, he was eating into the time of the north.
“Five governors led by Atiku Abubakar and everybody walked out of a convention in Eagle Square — that was the beginning of PDP’s crisis.”
He noted that while the party had zoned its ticket to the north in 2019 to prevent further fallout, it failed to rotate it back to the south in 2023.
“Atiku emerged in line with that principle. By 2023, it was natural the ticket should have gone back to the south, but some interests who felt they had the capacity to sway the mission made sure there was no zoning,” he added. “I was at the meeting — I remember saying, ‘If we don’t zone, we will regret this.’”
Yusuf, who represented Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu in Kogi for 12 years, emphasized that Nigeria’s politics remains heavily influenced by ethnicity and religion.
“For now, politics in Nigeria cannot be separated from religion and ethnicity. We might get there later when those two take back seats, but not now.”
He lamented the lack of funding from PDP governors and alleged that some are now repositioning for 2027.
“If you observe, PDP governors are now coming together regularly to hold meetings. But I can tell you—they’re not funding the party,” he said.
Touching on the PDP’s internal power struggle, Yusuf criticized the push to sideline the party’s national secretary, despite a Supreme Court ruling.
“It is clear — the secretary of the party is elected at the convention. If you want to remove him, wait for the convention or find a legal route,” he said. “The supreme court came with a clear position. But governors met and said they do not recognise him. Maybe what happened yesterday in Delta is connected.”
On Wednesday, Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), along with his predecessor and key state officials. The move ended the PDP’s 26-year grip on Delta.
“We came to the inevitable conclusion that moving out of the PDP is very, very necessary for us to be able to collaborate with our kith and kin and build that state that every Deltan will be proud of,” said Charles Aniagwu, Delta State Commissioner for Information.
