Top PDP Leaders, Including Atiku, Lamido, and Mark, Mull Exit Over Worsening Party Crisis

Several prominent figures within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, ex-Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, and former Senate President David Mark — are reportedly considering leaving the party amid deepening internal turmoil.

This development follows a closed-door meeting held on Tuesday in Abuja by the Concerned Leaders of the PDP. The session brought together key stakeholders, including former governors Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), and Sam Egwu (Ebonyi), to deliberate on the party’s deteriorating state and Nigeria’s political direction.

In a communiqué released after the meeting, the group voiced alarm over what they described as the country’s worsening condition under the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration. They decried the decline in development indicators, the rising hardship faced by Nigerians, and accused the APC of riding into power on a wave of “false and evil propaganda.”

The PDP veterans expressed disillusionment over the party’s decline, noting that the once-formidable opposition has now become “a shadow of its former self.” They also alleged that the APC-led federal government has been actively destabilizing the PDP by deploying tactics such as blackmail, intimidation, and political patronage to woo its members.

In a bid to salvage the situation, the group called on remaining PDP loyalists and other patriotic Nigerians to unite in forming a broader coalition aimed at restoring credibility to the opposition. However, the possible defection of key PDP stalwarts further underscores the magnitude of the crisis and its implications for the party’s future ahead of the next general elections.