‘PDP in trouble’ — Fayose says more governors planning to defect

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has said the ongoing crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stems from leadership failure, warning that more governors may soon dump the opposition party.

Speaking during an interview on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, on Tuesday, Fayose likened the party’s situation to a decaying fish, saying, “When a fish decays from the body, you can salvage it, but when it decays from the head, you cannot salvage it. Currently, the PDP has decayed from the head.”

The former governor said he had long foreseen the party’s troubles and consistently warned its leaders. “I have not deceived Nigerians about the PDP. I’ve also made it clear that I’ll never leave the party, but the truth is that the PDP is in trouble,” he said.

Fayose claimed that his earlier prediction about governors defecting from the party had already come to pass. “After my visit here three weeks ago, Governor Diri left. The Governor of Enugu also left. And the third one is the Governor of Taraba, who was handed over by the president to the national chairman of the APC,” he said.

He added that more defections were imminent, hinting that Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang could be the next to leave. “Another one will leave very soon — the Governor of Plateau. And after him, another governor will go. When I come back here, I will remind you again,” he declared.

The PDP, ahead of its national convention scheduled for November 15 and 16 in Ibadan, has been divided into two factions — one loyal to the acting national chairman, Umar Damagum, and the other aligned with Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. Fayose is aligned with the Wike-led bloc.

The party’s plan to hold its convention has faced conflicting court rulings. On October 31, a federal high court in Abuja restrained the PDP from proceeding, citing irregularities in its state congresses. However, on November 4, an Oyo State High Court ordered the party and Damagum to go ahead with the convention following an ex parte motion filed by Folahan Malomo Adelabi.