Expect more govs, lawmakers to dump PDP for APC – Saraki

Former Senate President Bukola Saraki has cautioned that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) could face additional defections, including those of two sitting governors and several federal lawmakers.

This comes in the wake of recent political realignments that saw Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and his Akwa Ibom counterpart, Umo Eno, leaving the PDP for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The opposition party has also witnessed a string of defections among members of the House of Representatives and the Senate to the ruling party.

In an interview with Arise TV, Saraki, who currently heads the PDP’s reconciliation and convention committee, expressed concern over the internal challenges within the party and signaled the possibility of more prominent members exiting.

He attributed the ongoing wave of defections to maneuverings among the political elite.

While acknowledging the turbulence at the national level, Saraki remained optimistic about the PDP’s foundation at the grassroots, which he described as resilient and committed.

“When you go round the country, the state chapters, the local government chapters, the party is still very strong in the grassroots,” he said.

“In some areas in the country, they are not even aware of what is happening at our level, in Abuja.The reactions we are seeing at the grassroots give us a lot of encouragement. But what we need to do is to get to the bottom and start to build.”

Saraki also issued a warning that unless the party addresses its internal rifts, more defections may be imminent.

“PDP would likely see one or two more defections, and we should prepare ourselves for that, there is a possibility,” he stated.“We haven’t seen the worst of the defections for PDP. We would likely see one or two governors defect and possibly some senators as well.”

He, however, pointed out a silver lining in the timing of the crisis, arguing that the party still has time to regroup ahead of the 2027 elections.

“For some of us, this happening early in PDP is an advantage. We are lucky that this is not happening, let’s say late 2026, we would not even have had time to recover and regroup.We have just under two years to the election, and we are lucky to have that. I think, with a lot of commitment and understanding, it is not a lost cause.A party of over 26 years of history that has been around, the largest party, we will definitely have low times like this.”