May 11, (THEWILL) — With the election timeline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the 2027 general election closing in a matter of days, the only remaining governors on the platform of the troubled Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and his Bauchi have embraced the fringe Allied Peoples Movement, APM, founded by former Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State ahead of the 2019 election.
While Mohammed has since defected from the PDP alongside his loyalists to the APM, Makinde has reportedly asked his loyalist to move to the new party, while he waits out the new development in the PDP regarding the release of the Certified True Copy of the recent Supreme Court ruling that nullified the Ibadan national convention of the party that produced the Tanimu Turaki led -National Working Committee, NWC.
As at the weekend, the New Agency of Nigeria reported that a gale of defection has hit the troubled PDP in Oyo State as many elected office holders, appointees and political associates of Gov. Seyi Makinde have dumped the party and joined the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
The Agency reported that a significant number of his political allies and close associates have resigned from the PDP and announced their defection to the APM. Although Makinde hasn’t made an official announcement yet, the coordinated movement of his network to the APM could signify an imminent move.
Some of Makinde’s key allies who have resigned and pitched their tent with the APM include Mr Shina Peller, the consensus candidate of Makinde’s PDP faction for Oyo North Senatorial District in the 2027 poll. Peller, a former member of the House of Representatives for Iseyin/Iwajowa/Itesiwaju/Kajola Federal Constituency, officially announced his resignation from the PDP on Wednesday.
He cited the protracted leadership vacuum and the “legal cul-de-sac” the PDP has been boxed into. The former lawmaker stated that his entrance into the APM strengthens the belief that a new era of responsive and progressive representation was possible for the people of Oyo North.
Also, current lawmaker for the Ibadan North-West/South-West Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Mr Adedeji Olajide, resigned from the PDP citing the crisis in the party as the reason for his decision. Olajide, who has reportedly switched to the APM, was earlier picked as the PDP consensus senatorial candidate for Oyo South in the 2027 general elections.
Equally, Mr Olufemi Ajadi, the consensus candidate for Oyo Central Senatorial election under Makinde’s PDP faction, tendered his resignation from the party on May 6. Ajadi said the unresolved crisis at the national level of the PDP was the reason he would pursue his ambition on another political platform.
He stressed that the lingering internal crisis within the party could pose legal challenges to his aspiration in the long run.NAN also reports that a number of lawmakers in the PDP dominated state House of Assembly have also resigned from the party in the past couple of days.
Among the lawmakers to have resigned in the Assembly is the Majority Leader, Hon. Onaolapo Sanjo Adedoyin (representing Ogbomoso South State Constituency), who has joined the APM. It has been speculated that all of Makinde’s allies, particularly aspirants jostling for federal, state, and local government seats, would all have resigned and joined the APM before Saturday.
Political observers in the state attribute the ongoing mass defection of PDP members loyal to Makinde to the APM to a strategy employed by the Oyo State governor to beat the May 9 deadline stipulated in the new electoral guidelines.
The provisions of the Electoral Act makes it necessary for the governor to publicly announce his preferred successor by May 9 at the latest.
There have been insinuations on social media that the governor had picked Mr Bimbo Adekanmbi as his preferred governorship candidate for the 2027 election, though his media aide, Dr Suleimon Olanrewaju had dismissed the reports. Adekanmbi was a former commissioner for finance under the APC led government of Gov. Abiola Ajimobi (deceased) and later was appointed by Makinde as chairman of the committee handling the upgrade of the Ladoke Akintola Airport in Ibadan.
Olanrewaju said the governor was still consulting widely and would make known his choice at the appropriate time. Apart from officially announcing his defection to the APM along with members of the PDP loyal to the Turaki leadership, Governor Mohammed declared his aspiration to run for the Senate on the new party’s platform after the APM National Chairman, Yusuf Dantalle, handed him the membership card alongside other government officials.
“After extensive consultation, we have taken a firm and strategic decision to join the Allied Peoples Movement (APM),” the Bauchi governor, said, adding that, “This is guided by one overriding objective: to secure victory in both states and continue to serve our people with utmost integrity, effectively mobilise our supporters and present a coherent and credible alternative to the people.”
With the 2027 elections months away, the governor said he “cannot allow our people to run out without a credible and effective political platform”, hence the defection to the APM.
“Our duty is to provide energy and direction; at the same time, make sure that the opportunity provided to all of us is not diminished,” he said. He thanked the PDP, the platform on which he was elected as governor in 2019 and in 2023 for the “important role it has played in our collective political journey”.
“It has been a platform through which we have found and contributed to the development of our state and our peer nation,” Mohammed said. “We remain grateful for this history and the opportunities provided.” Several weeks before this defection, the governor had met with chieftains of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, over possible defection but later the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, but discussions fell through in each case. The ADC up until the weekend was yet to resolve their lingering leadership crisis and an Abuja Federal High Court postponed trial indefinitely. And the APC failed to agree to a 60 percent and 40 percent sharing formula proposed by the governor.
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