The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has denied reports that Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, who also chairs the party’s Governors’ Forum, is planning to defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The denial follows weekend rumours that the governor was finalising plans to leave the opposition party.
According to the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, Governor Mohammed has consistently reaffirmed his loyalty to the PDP in multiple conversations with party leadership. Ememobong stated that the governor has publicly expressed his comfort within the party and that the national leadership is unaware of the origin of the defection speculation.
This incident occurs against a backdrop of significant losses for the PDP, which has seen ten of its governors switch to the APC within the past year. The most recent defection was Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal, who joined the APC last week following an Appeal Court ruling that nullified the PDP’s national convention in Ibadan. That convention had produced the current national leadership headed by Kabiru Tanimu Turaki.
The court verdict has exacerbated internal divisions within the PDP, prompting reconciliation discussions between two factions: the Turaki-led national working committee, supported by PDP governors, and a rival National Caretaker Committee backed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
Ememobong confirmed that stakeholder talks are ongoing to resolve the crisis. He noted that the reconciliation committee has adopted an approach of keeping deliberations internal, with agreed strategies guiding the process to avoid public escalation.
The denial of Governor Mohammed’s defection highlights the PDP’s efforts to project unity as it navigates both a wave of high-profile departures and a protracted internal leadership dispute. The success of the current reconciliation efforts may prove critical to stabilising the party ahead of future electoral contests.
