Is the PDP Dead?

By every objective measure, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has ceased to function as a viable political entity. Its carcass continues to move, but without pulse, purpose, or coherence. As a ruling party, PDP had its moments—but its legacy is weighed down by monumental abuses of power, systemic electoral malpractice, and industrial-scale corruption. From the open manipulation of election results mid-process to the weaponisation of state institutions for partisan gain, the party leadership helped normalise impunity at the highest level. Many of these cases—alleging theft of billions—are still unresolved two decades on.

But the party’s death didn’t happen overnight. It began in 2007, when Obasanjo imposed a sick candidate on Nigerians followed by the Jonathan directionless Presidency. In 2014, a mass defection gutted its internal cohesion, when 5 of its governors established the newPDP to challenge what they called lack of internal democracy within the part. Losing power in 2015 should have been a moment for self-correction. Instead, the PDP lost its ideological compass. It abandoned the one role opposition parties must play in democracies: the duty to provide clarity, contrast, and credible alternatives. Even as the All Progressives Congress (APC) drifted into policy incoherence from 2017 onward, and the confusion that followed – petroleum prices increase, ASUU and other university unions strikes, economic recession, open stealing never seen before in the nation’s history, fuel subsidy removal, minimum wage controversy etc., the PDP remained inert—leaderless, rudderless, and largely invisible.

Today, what remains of the PDP is a loosely held patchwork of political actors in retreat. Governors are defecting. Its 2023 vice-presidential candidate has walked away. State-level structures are hollowed out. Internal leadership is fractured, and there is no unifying idea or strategic doctrine to rally around. What does this tell us? That the PDP is not in decline. It is defunct.

At a time when Nigeria is experiencing a vacuum of governance—across federal, state, and local levels—what is needed is a credible alternative with intellectual spine, strategic clarity, and moral authority. The PDP has forfeited that opportunity. Nigerians are now confronted with two bleak options: to stick with a failing ruling party or scavenge among opportunistic startups branded with catchy acronyms and no ideological soul.

The collapse of the PDP is more than the fall of a party—it is a signal of deeper systemic decay in Nigeria’s political architecture. But in every collapse lies an opening: for principled political entrepreneurship, grounded in values, competence, and execution. Who will offer that? The people that landed us in this mess in the first place or new faces? We need new faces in the political arena. These people parading themselves as opposition are no different from the PDP or APC, they are one and same. Our youth need to come back to their senses, most of these people we see in leadership positions started showing their ability to lead in their early 20s. If we want to see a Nigeria of our dreams then we have to step forward. The time for lamentations is over.

The future belongs to those who can build systems—not just win elections.

Dr. Danladi teaches Mass Communication at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria