How PDP Died In South East

Once regarded as the strongest and most populous political party in Africa, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has witnessed a dramatic fall from grace, particularly in Nigeria’s South East region — a zone that was once its political fortress.

Formed in 1998 and ushered into power after the 1999 general election that produced Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as President, the PDP dominated Nigeria’s political landscape for over a decade. The South East was a major pillar of that dominance, consistently delivering overwhelming votes and unwavering loyalty to the party’s candidates at all levels. However, cracks began to appear in the once-solid structure of the PDP following years of internal wrangling, poor leadership decisions, and the failure to address issues of equity and inclusion within its ranks. The 2023 general elections became a turning point.

Many political observers and analysts had predicted that the PDP would suffer a major collapse if it failed to zone its presidential ticket to the South East — a region that had never produced the country’s president since Nigeria’s return to democracy. That prophecy now appears to have come true. After the 2023 elections, the party’s influence in the region continued to wane. Prominent members began defecting to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and other emerging platforms, citing marginalization and lack of direction within the PDP. The final blow seems to have come with the recent defection of Enugu State Governor, Chief Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, to the APC — an event that many see as the symbolic end of the PDP’s dominance in the South East. Governor Mbah’s move, analysts say, signifies not just the collapse of a political party in the region but the shift of political allegiance toward the center of power in Abuja. Today, the once mighty PDP stands as a shadow of its former self in the South East, reduced to fragments and scattered loyalists struggling to stay relevant in a rapidly changing political environment. As it stands, the question is no longer whether the PDP can reclaim its lost glory in the South East, but whether it can survive at all — given the growing exodus of its leaders and supporters to rival parties. The death of the PDP in the South East, therefore, is not just a political event but a historical moment that underscores the consequences of failed internal democracy and the neglect of regional balance in Nigeria’s complex political system. As written by Mr. Sunday Nwinne, Political Analyst from Abakaliki.