The All Progressives Congress (APC) has fired back at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over claims that it was intimidating and blackmailing opposition governors into deflecting to the ruling party.
The APC described PDP’s claims as “boring, repetitive and baseless.”
In a statement issued on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said the PDP was only reaping the consequences of its long history of corruption, impunity, and failed leadership.
“The PDP continues to ridicule itself by the boring, repetitive and baseless claim that APC is, somehow, intimidating or cajoling its Governors and other senior members to dump their wreck of a party,” Morka said.
He accused the opposition party of being the “sole maker of its own political predicament,” noting that the wave of defections from the PDP to the APC was a reflection of “free democratic choice” rather than coercion.
“The party is only harvesting well-deserved adversity from decades of political recklessness, mindless corruption, ruthless desecration of democracy, disgraceful failure of leadership, and destructive impunity that have characterized its existence.
“The Governors and members that are dumping the party in their numbers are doing so in exercise of their free democratic will, and wisely so, to mitigate against the devastating fate that Nigerians will deal the party in the upcoming 2027 elections,” Morka added.
The PDP, through its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had accused the ruling APC of deploying undemocratic tactics, including harassment, inducement, and blackmail, to force its members, particularly serving governors into defecting.
Ologunagba made the remarks while reacting to claims by Bashir Ahmad, a former aide to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, who said on X (formerly Twitter) that two PDP governors, including one from Taraba State and another from the North West, were set to defect to the APC.
“The defections you see today are instigated by inducement, harassment, coercion, and intimidation, and I can assure you that they won’t last.
“A party is not about individuals but all the people. We have more and more diverse people working for the PDP today. More and more people are returning to the PDP because it’s getting itself together,” Ologunagba had said.
The PDP also accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of attempting to “decimate the opposition” in a bid to establish a one-party state ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Meanwhile, a PDP Northern Support Group has reaffirmed its confidence in the party’s Acting National Chairman, Ambassador Iliya Umar Damagum, and declared support for former President Goodluck Jonathan as the party’s preferred presidential candidate for 2027.
The position was contained in a communiqué issued after the group’s 8th Northern Support Group Meeting held in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, between October 8 and 9, 2025.
According to the communiqué jointly signed by Hon. Yusuf Abubakar (Northern Coordinator) and Hon. Adamu Ahmed Narayi (North-West Zonal Secretary), the group lauded Damagum’s reconciliation efforts and called on stakeholders to rally behind Jonathan.
“There is no going back on Goodluck Jonathan as the candidate to redeem the party’s image in 2027. He remains one of Nigeria’s most patriotic leaders, who sacrificed personal ambition for national peace by peacefully handing over power after the 2015 elections,” the communiqué read.
The group maintained that the PDP remained a “viable platform capable of reclaiming power” from the APC if members demonstrated unity, discipline, and genuine commitment to the party’s ideals.
