PDP may have no candidate in 2027 if leadership crisis persists– Suswam

A Senator and former governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, opens up on the deepening crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), warning that the party may not be ready for the 2027 elections. In this Interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, monitored by David Lawani, he criticises the leadership of acting Chairman, Iliya Damagun, hints at possible defection, and weighs in on coalition talks, internal sabotage, and his political future

 

 

Who is the leader of the PDP today? With the confusion over the NEC meeting, who should we trust for information about the party’s future?

The last time I was here, I talked about leadership. Leadership must possess certain qualities, such as integrity and clarity. The PDP leadership does not have any of this. There is a lack of integrity in the leadership of the PDP. I am happy that Nyesom Wike mentioned it. I have said consistently that Damagum is not a leader. Because it is simple, what has happened here is that, after the meeting with INEC, a good leader would have expected to meet with the National Working Committee (NWC) members to brief them before holding any press conference. Whether he briefed them, nobody knows. And I believe that if he had called them into a meeting, he would have said, “We held a meeting with INEC, and this is what INEC has insisted on.” I am not sure the other NWC members would have gone out there to give a contrary opinion as to what happened. I am sure they were not aware of the outcome of the meeting with INEC. That is not leadership. Damagum has been a problem for the PDP. Since he assumed office as national chairman of the party, the party has been drifting and getting worse. I have said this thing consistently. First and foremost, they breached the provisions of the constitution, which stipulate that he must act for a specified period and the position must revert to the North Central. There was a gang-up. I am a member of the PDP.

 

 

So the party is non-existent?

You mentioned it yourself because the magnitude of confusion in the party is confounding. Now, we are supposed to have a NEC meeting. The chairman, who ordinarily should be the one to call the NEC meeting, is stating that it will be an expanded caucus rather than an NEC meeting. 11 NWC members claim there will be a NEC meeting. A party like the PDP finding itself in this quagmire is miserable. Unfortunately, the people who are the biggest beneficiaries of this platform are those who have deliberately sabotaged the party.

 

 

What do you make of the INEC chairman’s statement?

You cannot exonerate the governors of PDP for the complicity that has led to this confusion. A leader with known clarity, focus, and purpose—this is where it will lead us. Different letters have been written to the INEC chairman. It is rather amusing and ridiculous that the PDP could be writing letters back and forth with different names claiming to be the national secretary of the party. How can you keep such a person leading a big party like the PDP? I expect that you will not get a different result. The level of ineptitude is something else.

 

 

What do you have to say about Iyorchia Ayu? Why did they have to replace him?

Ask the governors that question. That question, I cannot answer. We were almost there when they met and said that Damagum should continue. Governor Bala Mohammed, whom I told is the presumptive leader of the party, made the announcement now that they have confidence in Damagum’s leadership. So, they are complicit in whatever they have done. There is a lot that we don’t know. And I believe there is more to it than we are seeing. If, in the announcement of Damagum, Anyanwu is resuming, I saw Bala state that other members of the NWC, who these same governors control, will go and issue a different statement. Then, there is more to it than meets the eye. There is a lot that ordinary party members like us don’t know. Why should we continue in that kind of confusion? A lot of well-meaning people in the PDP — people of substance and integrity — are simply leaving the party. When I was here the last time, I said a lot more were going to leave the party. Nobody will find themselves in that confusion and be happy. Take a look at what is happening in Ekiti State right now. We might end up not having a candidate in Ekiti based on this confusion. Whether that is intentional, nobody knows. But I believe that it is deliberate. They want to kill the PDP deliberately, and the governors are complicit in it.

 

 

Are you also planning to leave the PDP?

There is a possibility that I will.

 

 

 

Are you tired of it all?

This may be what is going on.

 

 

 

Where would you be headed?

There are many alternatives. There is the Labour Party. There is an Alliance for Democracy. There is an NNPP led by Kwankwaso—a colleague and a friend. There are many alternatives available. Is APC an alternative? APC can be an alternative. But I have an issue. After all, it is a ruling party. I am not ruling that out. I believe there are many alternatives.

 

 

You were a governor under the platform of the PDP. Does it mean these issues cannot be resolved?

I have many people who look up to me politically. And any decision I make, I must consult widely with them. And so, with what is happening now, the consultation has begun. We are consulting. We have to check: where do we move from here? People in Benue are aggrieved by what is happening at the party. People are aggrieved. Iyorchia Ayu’s removal was orchestrated by the same group of persons who have an agenda to destroy the party. It was orchestrated. It was not that the man woke up and walked away from the party, throwing the party under the bus. It was well-orchestrated by this same group of people.

 

 

In all of this, coalition talks are underway ahead of the 2027 general election. What do you think is weighing the party down?

It is rather preposterous for any person to imagine that he will be a presidential candidate for a party that is in shambles. You don’t just be a candidate, except you want to be a candidate for transacting business with the government in power. Many people want to be candidates so that they can conduct business with the government in power. Except for that, if I run to be a candidate and want to win the election, the party must be united. Any party that is not together and presents a candidate is wasting its time. So, anyone imagining that they will be a candidate in the PDP the way it is now, that person must be a joker.

 

Is the PDP a party that can contest the 2027 election?

We are in June. We have six months to go. By 2026, around March–April, complete political activities, including primaries, would have begun. A party that is not unified and doesn’t appear to be coming together cannot be part of that election. I don’t see PDP coming out of this quagmire anytime soon. And I want to contest for an election. I won’t waste my time waiting and imagining. It is becoming like a mirage.

 

 

Are you going back to the Senate?

I can contest for the presidency of this country. It must not just be the Senate. Can I contest for the President?

 

 

Are you from the North?

Who says somebody from the North cannot contest for the presidency?

 

 

What do you have in mind, considering the balance of power and rotation?

If I join a political party that doesn’t mention zoning in its manifesto but has a platform, then I am eligible for it. I am a party man. If my party’s constitution says that power should rotate, and this time, it is the turn of this particular region, I will respect that to the fullest. It depends on the party’s constitution.

 

 

Are you serious that the PDP will not be ready for 2027?

I don’t see them ready. That is the way it looks now. Can they contest the Ekiti State election with this confusion? Would they be able to? Because Anyanwu and Damagum, unfortunately, must sign the form. If there is this confusion, and other members of the NWC are saying, “Look, I will not work with you,” there is no way that the party will be functional. INEC, first and foremost, will not recognise any activity of the party. If Anyanwu doesn’t sign the form convening the NWC of the party to hold NEC, whatever decision you take there will be null and void. INEC will not recognise it. So this is where we are. Will he sign the form? And we agreed that he would be part of it. So what do we do? These are fundamental questions for the party’s future.

 

 

If you were given the power to fix the party, what would you do differently?

First and foremost, I will sit down with the genuinely aggrieved members of the party—those who are truly concerned—and seek to understand the issues, addressing them accordingly. That is what I think. I am an aggrieved member of PDP. None of the NWC members has ever approached us in Benue because we have two chairmen in Benue: one that Damagum said he recognised and the other one he said he doesn’t recognise. Both of them have offices. And no one is sitting with these people to talk to them. So, how do you expect the people in this faction to come together and work for the interest of the party in Benue? If you are using Benue as a case in this discussion, then there are aggrieved members nationally. A committee was set up; that committee can only be functional if the party itself is together. If the party is not united, how can a committee headed by Senator Saraki function effectively? How will he submit his reports? These are some of the problematic issues.

 

 

So, will the reconciliation be a difficult one?

It’s going to be a challenging one, considering the current situation, because I saw in the meeting with INEC some governors there, with the “leader” of the party. Because as the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, in the absence of the President, and in the absence of the person who would have been the leader, who for some inexplicable reasons has been shoved out of the party, Bala Mohammed, Governor of Bauchi State, is the leader of the party. I saw him in both meetings. So, how will you sit down as a leader, listen to what the INEC chairman said, and then come out and sit down with the national chairman, address the press, and agree with what the INEC chairman said? In the same vein, an NWC of 18 members, the party you lead, convened another meeting and wrote a letter. I disagree totally with that. What kind of leadership is that?

 

 

Do you blame Damagum and Bala Mohammed?

Yes, of course, and absolutely. So, where do we go from here? Because you have said, Damagum is not a leader. He lacks the necessary qualities to lead people. He has no capacity whatsoever to lead a party as big as the PDP. He has demonstrated a high level of ineptitude in the party’s management.

 

 

 

Could Atiku Abubakar have played a better role here?

You know that most of the governors said they don’t want him in the party. So the gentleman decided to watch and see if they could run the party. This is the result we are currently witnessing. You must have a leader in any organisation. There is no organisation or nuclear unit of the family — it is either the wife is the leader, or the husband is the leader — but there must be somebody leading. We don’t have leadership here. And once leadership lacks integrity and substance, problems arise. So that is what we are witnessing.

 

 

 

What is your take on the coalition? Do you agree with the notion that the only way President Tinubu can be defeated is through a coalition of opposition forces joining forces?

Not just a coalition but serious-minded stakeholders who are determined to make a change. You can form a coalition, but if you are not serious and purposeful, you may not achieve anything. However, what I have seen so far is a purposeful coalition coming together. However, what we are now witnessing is not the PDP, the Labour Party, or other parties coming together. They are factions of the parties. The leaders of the coalition, so to speak, none of them is in control of any of the political parties. If it is Atiku, he is not in control of the PDP. Peter Obi is not in control of the Labour Party. Some members of the ruling party in the APC who are also joining the coalition are not in control of the party. What we have is a coalition. It is not a merger. Different individuals of common interest are coming together to say, “Look, we have had enough of what is going on in Nigeria. We want a change.” This is not the first time. When the APC came together, theirs was a merger because leaders of the parties joined together to form a single party. Here, individuals from factions of the parties are coming together to create a unit—likely in a new party or by adopting an existing party as a platform for the future. If I were in a ruling party, I would be concerned because many people are interested, including those within the ruling party.

 

 

Do you mean that people in the ruling party are part of the coalition?

The CPC part of APC—most of their members are part of this coalition. So, they are still in APC, but they are members of the alliance.

 

 

And they are working against the APC?

Well, it is not to work against the APC. It is to work for Nigerians. I don’t see it as working against the APC. The essence of political parties is to create alternatives for people. If Nigerians now feel that the ruling party is not treating them well, there should be an alternative. It is not working against a political party. It is working in Nigeria’s interest. When CPC, ACN, and other political parties came together to work for Nigerians against former President Jonathan, it was not working against Jonathan. They felt that Nigerians were dissatisfied with the PDP at the time. So, they came together and provided an alternative. And Nigerians were convinced that they would do better than what was currently on the ground. And so they were able to win the election. So, this is not the first time you will encounter a scenario like this. Nigerians, based on the economic policies of this current administration, are very dissatisfied. The coalition believes that, based on this, no Nigerian is unaffected by the current government’s economic policy. The alliance would be the party to beat. And if I join the ruling party, I should be concerned about it. When the ACN and CPC came together, I was still a governor at the time. We just dismissed it, that nothing was going to happen.

 

 

What do you see with the President’s dismissal of the coalition?

We were doing the same thing when we were in government. We dismissed APC then completely. People didn’t give them any chance. And they won that election.