Another PDP Governor Defects

OpenLife reports that Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State has defected from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in a dramatic political development that has further deepened the crisis rocking Nigeria’s political opposition.

SaharaReporters gathered on Monday that the governor dumped the PDP alongside his deputy, Mani Malam Mummuni, and several members of the state executive council.

Sources told SaharaReporters that the PDP flag was removed from the Zamfara Government House in the presence of the deputy governor and other cabinet members shortly after the defection was finalised.

In a video obtained by SaharaReporters, Deputy Governor Mummuni was seen praising the APC while jubilating with other members of the cabinet following the move to the ruling party.

The development was also confirmed by former presidential aide Bashir Ahmad, who disclosed that the governor and members of his cabinet had formally aligned with the APC.

“Latest reports from Zamfara indicate that Governor Dauda Lawal, along with members of his cabinet, has defected from the PDP to the APC,” Ahmad wrote.

Although the governor has yet to issue an official statement explaining the reasons for the move, sources within the state government told SaharaReporters that the defection is connected to the lingering leadership crisis within the PDP.

The opposition party has been embroiled in a series of legal and political battles over its leadership structure following a disputed national convention.

Earlier on Monday, the Court of Appeal affirmed a previous judgment barring the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from validating the PDP’s national convention held in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State.

The appellate court upheld an earlier ruling delivered on January 30, 2026, by a Federal High Court in Ibadan, which nullified the convention conducted on November 15, 2025.

In that judgment, the court declared the convention invalid and restrained members of the Tanimu Turaki-led National Working Committee from parading themselves as national officers of the party.

The court further held that the caretaker committee led by Mohammed Abdulrahman and Samuel Anyanwu remains the only recognised leadership of the PDP pending the conduct of a valid national convention.

The leadership dispute has triggered multiple lawsuits and deepened divisions within the party, with rival factions battling for control of the PDP’s national structure.

The crisis has also drawn in allies of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, whose loyalists had earlier approached a Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to nullify the Ibadan convention.

They argued that the convention was held in “flagrant disregard” of subsisting court judgments and urged the court to declare it “null, void and of no effect.”

Political observers say the defection of the Zamfara governor and his cabinet could significantly weaken the PDP’s structure in the North-West and further embolden the ruling APC ahead of future political contests.