PDP National Chairman Umar Damagum reveals why the party is suffering

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) isn’t just suffering—it’s bleeding, and it’s self-inflicted. What was once Nigeria’s dominant political force has become a shadow of itself, thanks to members who traded the party’s founding ideals for raw, selfish ambition.

From the Obasanjo era till date, the party has been hijacked by individuals who see politics as a personal hustle, not a platform for public service. Acting national chairman Umar Damagum was brutally honest: “We have too often jettisoned ideology in favour of personal ambition. This has cost us dearly.” That confession cuts to the core.

Let’s be clear—the PDP wasn’t built to be a retirement home for disgruntled politicians or a launching pad for political opportunists. It was “born out of a national crisis of conscience”—an organised response to decades of military dictatorship, grounded in unity, democracy, and social justice. Today, that legacy lies in ruins.

It’s not rocket science why the party is collapsing. Leaders switch parties overnight for crumbs of power. Internal democracy is a joke. Loyalty is transactional. And every time someone defects, the PDP becomes less of a party and more of a carcass.

Even Bukola Saraki, a key defector in 2013, admitted: “I left in anger, but anger does not provide good leadership.” That should be a wake-up call.

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Governor Bala Mohammed asked pointedly: “If someone wants to leave PDP to go to another place, how is this a smart move in thought and thinking?” It isn’t.

If the PDP wants to survive, it must stop begging defectors and start punishing betrayal. The party must rediscover its soul—or die the slow death it’s already living.