*2Baba’s Wife Joins NDC And Backs Obi, While Makinde Prepares To Reveal Successor And May Move Loyalists To APM
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The Peoples Democratic Party is haemorrhaging members across multiple states as the Supreme Court’s nullification of its Ibadan convention and the protracted factional crisis between the Nyesom Wike and Tanimu Turaki blocs drive mass resignations, with Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi ending a 28-year association with the party he described as having been “turned into a ramshackle organisation,” multiple Oyo State lawmakers, a local government chairman, and a governorship aspirant simultaneously dumping the party ahead of Governor Seyi Makinde’s expected May 8 announcement of his preferred successor, and Edo State lawmaker Natasha Osawaru, wife of music icon 2Baba Idibia, defecting to the Nigeria Democratic Congress where she declared support for Peter Obi’s presidential ambition.
The departures, occurring on the same day across at least three states, represent the most significant wave of PDP defections since the Supreme Court judgment that voided the party’s national convention and left its leadership structure in dispute between the Wike-backed Abdulrahman Mohammed faction and the Turaki-led interim National Working Committee loyal to Makinde.
Senator Ningi, representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District and a founding member of the PDP since its formation in 1998, announced his resignation in a letter addressed to the PDP Chairman of Ningi Ward in Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State.
The senator, who served two terms in the House of Representatives representing Ningi-Warji Federal Constituency before moving to the Senate, described his departure as “one of the most difficult moments” of his political career.
“It is now a great concern and worrisome to me that this virile and united platform could be turned into a ramshackle organisation with internal leadership wrangling and factional interests,” Ningi wrote.
He said his decision was taken “after wide consultations with stakeholders, associates, and supporters,” and that the PDP’s “internal leadership crises, factional divisions, and competing interests within the leadership” had “weakened its unity and structure.”
Ningi acknowledged the PDP as “once the largest political party in Africa” with “strong ideology, unity, and democratic values that enabled participatory governance,” making his characterisation of it as a “ramshackle organisation” all the more damning, a description from someone who spent nearly three decades building and benefiting from the party.
He expressed gratitude to party leaders at all levels who supported his political journey and prayed for those remaining in the PDP, “urging them to remain committed and work towards restoring the party to its former strength.”
“As I continue my political career outside the Peoples Democratic Party, please accept my best regards,” he concluded.
Ningi did not disclose his next political destination.
In Oyo State, mass resignations hit the Turaki-led faction of the PDP on Thursday as various aspirants seeking elective positions in the 2027 general elections dumped the party simultaneously.
The development comes as loyalists of Governor Makinde await his directive on the way forward for the 2027 elections. The governor had promised to reveal his preferred successor on May 8, in preparation for the May 10 INEC deadline for submission of digital registers of political parties.
Sources close to the governor told The PUNCH that former Commissioner for Finance during the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi administration, Bimbo Adekanmbi, may be announced as the preferred candidate.
More significantly, sources indicated that Makinde “may order his loyalists to move en masse to the Allied Peoples Movement to pursue their ambition for 2027, due to the protracted crisis in the PDP.”
The potential mass migration of Makinde’s political structure from the PDP to the APM would effectively end the governor’s association with a party on whose platform he won two terms and would represent the most consequential gubernatorial defection from the PDP since the current crisis began.
Those who tendered their resignations on Thursday include a cross-section of lawmakers, local government officials, and aspirants.
Abass Adigun, popularly called Agboworin, the lawmaker representing Ibadan North-East/South-East, resigned from the party.
Fatai Owoseni, Executive Adviser to Governor Makinde on Security, submitted his resignation.
Adebayo Adepoju, the lawmaker representing Ibarapa Central Federal Constituency, left the party, stating: “I am leaving the party because of the leadership crisis rocking it.”
Stanley Olajide, popularly known as Odidiomo, the member representing Ibadan North-West/Ibadan South-West Federal Constituency, resigned.
Temitope Oladimeji, popularly called O’tope, an aspirant for Egbeda/Ona-Ara Federal Constituency, departed.
Shina Oyedeji, described as the only federal lawmaker from Oke-Ogun, resigned.
Akeem Olatunji, Chairman of Oluyole Local Government, submitted a resignation letter dated May 5, 2026, attributing his decision to “the disagreement among the leadership of the party at the national level.” He thanked state chairman Dayo Ogungbenro and vice chairman Wasiu Adeleke for their support, and expressed particular gratitude to Seye Famojuro, whom he described as “his political benefactor.”
Olufemi Ajadi, a governorship aspirant, resigned in a letter dated May 6, 2026, stating that his decision followed “extensive consultations and careful reflection” on his “political direction, particularly in relation to the broader state and national vision of unity, progress, and sustainable leadership.”
None of the departing members disclosed their next political destinations, though sources close to the politicians said some were planning to join either the APM or the NDC.
“Consultations are ongoing with associates and stakeholders across different political platforms,” sources stated.
The Oyo State departures are inextricably linked to Makinde’s own political calculations.
The PDP is torn between the Wike-backed Abdulrahman Mohammed National Working Committee, which claims legitimacy following the Supreme Court’s nullification of the Ibadan convention, and the Turaki-led interim NWC loyal to Makinde. With both factions claiming the party’s leadership, and with the May 10 deadline for submission of membership registers approaching, aspirants in Oyo State face the practical impossibility of knowing which PDP faction will conduct valid primaries or whether any primary conducted by either faction will survive legal challenge.
Makinde’s expected May 8 announcement of his preferred successor, one day before the register deadline, suggests the governor has been holding his political cards close while the PDP’s national crisis plays out. His decision on which platform to use for 2027 will determine the political alignment of one of the most powerful political structures in South-West Nigeria.
If Makinde moves to the APM, as sources suggest, it would effectively create a three-way opposition split in Oyo State: the Wike-backed PDP, whatever remains of the Turaki-aligned PDP, and Makinde’s APM structure, all competing for the anti-APC vote.
In a separate but related development, Natasha Osawaru, a member of the Edo State House of Assembly representing Egor Constituency and wife of music icon Innocent “2Baba” Idibia, defected from the PDP to the NDC on Thursday.
The 31-year-old lawmaker was received into the party alongside former Gombe State Deputy Governor John Yoriyo and other political figures by NDC National Leader Senator Seriake Dickson at the party’s headquarters in Abuja.
Osawaru declared her re-election bid for the Egor Constituency seat under the NDC, which she described as “a party committed to serving the people.” In a campaign flyer, the lawmaker interpreted the NDC acronym as “Natasha Don Come,” a personalised political branding that merges her identity with the party’s initials.
She also publicly declared her support for Peter Obi’s presidential ambition, posting a photograph of herself with the former Anambra State governor and urging Nigerians to “stand up, war against the oppressors.”
The lawmaker also posted photographs of herself with Kwankwaso, signalling alignment with the Obi-Kwankwaso joint ticket that has been the subject of widespread discussion since the two men joined the NDC on Sunday.
Osawaru’s defection adds to the NDC’s growing roster of elected officials and prominent political figures who have migrated from other parties in the days since Obi and Kwankwaso’s arrival transformed the party’s national profile.
The simultaneous departures across Bauchi, Oyo, and Edo States illustrate the existential crisis facing the PDP in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s judgment.
With the Ibadan convention nullified, the Turaki-led NWC dissolved, the Wike faction claiming sole authority, the Damagun-era leadership structure the only remnant of legitimacy recognised by the apex court, and the Wabara-led Board of Trustees attempting to fill the vacuum, the PDP has no unified leadership capable of conducting the basic functions required of a political party: submitting membership registers, organising primaries, screening candidates, and filing nomination forms.
For aspirants who need to be on a ballot in January 2027, the PDP’s internal chaos is not an abstract governance problem but a practical impediment to their political survival. The May 10 deadline for membership register submission and the May 30 deadline for completion of primaries mean that any party that cannot resolve its leadership disputes within days, not weeks, will be unable to field candidates.
As Ningi wrote: the PDP was “once the largest political party in Africa.” Whether it remains a viable political vehicle for the 2027 elections, or whether the current crisis reduces it to what Ningi described as “a ramshackle organisation” from which serious politicians flee to other platforms, is being answered in real time by the resignations streaming in from across the country.
As one departing Oyo member stated: “The internal wrangling will deprive us of the opportunity to vie for elective positions come 2027.”
For politicians who must be on a ballot, that is reason enough to leave.
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