By Ebuka Onyekwelu, Ph.D
As at the last count, no fewer than thirty-one out of Nigeria’s thirty-six state governors have declared for the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress – APC. The latest in the list are the governors of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang, elected on the platform of the PDP in 2023, and Abba Yusuf, Kano state governor, who in 2023 was elected on the platform of the NNPP. After the 2023 General Election, the APC had about 21 Governors under the coverage of its broom. But as of the last week of January 2026, the APC boasts of dominance of Nigeria’s politics with 31 State Governors, and the 2027 General Election is still about fourteen months away. With over one year to next year’s election, the last defection into the APC might not have been seen.
The States of Anambra – APGA, Abia – LP, Oyo – PDP, Osun, defected from the PDP to the Accord Party, Bauchi – PDP, Adamawa – PDP, and Zamfara – PDP are the last six states standing. Weighed against the next year’s presidential election, these states are not sufficient to organize a firm opposition to the ruling APC. They are not even all on the same page politically. For instance, the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Soludo, is a supporter of President Tinubu of the APC, whom he refers to as his friend of over 20 years. The PDP, now left with three states, is without doubt in its final days as a political party. Indeed, given these realities, the outcome of the 2027 Presidential Election speaks for itself.
Importantly, looking at the wave of defections, it might signal a descent into a one-party state by default. It might even be construed as a deliberate effort by the ruling party to arm-twist or intimidate opposition, who then run to the ruling party for refuge. Yet, this might appear as a national policy of sorts for the ruling party in a bid to retain power in 2027. However, in truth, the APC from the beginning modeled itself as a credible option to displaced or disgruntled politicians in other parties. This is the growth part that it created for itself. That was how Rotimi Amaechi and many others, originally of the PDP, left the PDP and joined the APC before the 2015 General Election.
Right from inception as AC or ACN, which was the then major opposition political party in Nigeria, the party modeled itself to be an alternative platform for politicians who had been displaced in the PDP, the then ruling party. When the former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in 2007, was outmaneuvered in the PDP, he ran to the AC, and the road was paved for him to fly the party’s presidential ticket. When Nuhu Ribadu had a similar displacement experience, he was also welcomed into the ACN, and he was the presidential candidate of the ACN in the 2011 Presidential Election. When Dr. Chris Ngige of the PDP had issues with the party because of his battle with his godfathers in Anambra State at the time, the AC and later the ACN quickly took him in and projected him as the credible alternative to govern Anambra State. The party also extended the same favour to all state and federal lawmakers who left the PDP or had an outstanding issue with the PDP and needed an alternative platform to pursue their political careers. From inception, the APC positioned itself to use dissenting members of the PDP or opposition parties who have been wronged by their party to dismantle their party. This is still the same formula at work today. Politicians are in desperate need of alternative platforms whenever displaced. This is a major driving force behind defections within the Nigerian political space. Politicians do not defect for the sake of defecting to merely identify with the ruling party. The ruling party simply offers a better deal towards advancing their political interests than they had in their former party. This is why politicians defect.
The Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, after close to two years of running battle with his godfather, Nyesom Wike, and his party totally unable to help him address the issues that have not only withered his powers and influence as a sitting governor, but severely threaten his reelection bid, he moved to the APC last December. This move has not only brought him closer to the schemes of national politics but has also strengthened his position and leadership in Rivers, while weakening his godfather’s influence. Fubara is now an insider and the leader of the APC in Rivers State. This has secured his position with or without Wike and prepared him for a possible return as governor. The PDP or any other party cannot add such value to Fubara’s political present and future.
This same scenario is what has played out in Kano state, where Governor Yusuf, a godson of Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, dumped the NNPP and concluded plans to join the APC. He will be the 31st APC governor when he formally joins the party in a few days. In Kano, the governor’s influence has been overshadowed by that of his godfather, who remains the de facto leader of Kano State. Apparently tired of the situation, which has made him unable to exercise his powers and influence as governor fully, Yusuf weighed his options and pitched his tent with the APC, which offered him a better deal than the NNPP.
It is therefore incorrect to interpret the defections of Nigerian governors as mere politics of convenience. These defections must be examined in the light of what instigated them. To that extent, the APC is a child of circumstance and only a beneficiary of a problem created by party leaders and managers who are mismanaging their members.
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