PDP’s Crisis Self-Inflicted, Says APC Chieftain Osita Okechukwu

A founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to stop “crying wolf after the horse has bolted,” insisting that the ongoing wave of defections from the PDP to the APC is a consequence of the opposition party’s own internal failings.

Speaking with journalists on Thursday in Abuja, Okechukwu said the mass defections were a form of “punishment” for the PDP’s disregard for its own constitution and zoning principles during the 2023 presidential primaries.

“The brutal damage of mass defection of state governors is self-inflicted,” Okechukwu declared.

“As CNPP spokesman then, I warned the PDP to stop self-serving elders of the party, like His Excellency Atiku Abubakar and cohorts, from breaching the zoning convention during the 2022 presidential primary. Power drunk, they plunged the PDP into this mess.”

He accused the PDP leadership of “callous negligence,” saying the party’s refusal to uphold its zoning tradition cost it credibility and unity.

“I am at a loss as to how the PDP leadership allowed Atiku—the foremost beneficiary of the zoning convention—to fly the party’s flag in 2023 when he had already benefited in 2019,” Okechukwu said. “The chickens have come home to roost. Instead of showing remorse, the PDP assumed northern voters would join their impunity against zoning. But they rejected it.”

The APC chieftain argued that the current implosion within the PDP and the wave of defections were inevitable results of “burying the soul of a party founded on integrity, unity, and faith.”

He further cited the G-5 Governors’ rebellion led by Nyesom Wike and the rise of Peter Obi’s Obidient Movement as “unintended consequences” of the PDP’s internal contradictions.

Okechukwu advised the opposition party to stop blaming defectors or the ruling APC and instead embark on “a thorough house cleaning and a fresh start.”