Why Nigeria's one-time political giant may face extinction

What the report says

The BBC reports from Abuja that Nigeria’s Peoples Democratic Party, once the dominant force in the country’s politics, is facing an existential crisis ahead of January’s general election. The party, founded in 1998, governed Nigeria for 16 years after the return to democracy in 1999, but its decline accelerated after losing the presidency to Muhammadu Buhari and the newly formed All Progressives Congress in 2015.

According to the BBC, the PDP’s troubles deepened in 2025 through defections, internal feuds and a long-running leadership dispute that has ended up in court. Several state governors left for the APC during the year, and the party’s control of state governments has fallen to zero after losing Oyo last month. The report says the party also lost former vice-president Atiku Abubakar and remains split between rival factions.

A key point of contention is a November convention in Ibadan, where one faction expelled Nyesom Wike, a prominent PDP figure now serving in President Bola Tinubu’s APC-led government. The BBC says the legal situation has strengthened Wike’s camp, which is able to submit candidates to the electoral commission, while the rival faction cannot field nominees on the ballot.

Some PDP loyalists still believe the party could recover if it resolves its internal crisis, but analysts quoted by the BBC say it may need an alliance with another opposition force to remain relevant. The episode matters because it could reshape Nigeria’s opposition landscape and determine whether a once-mighty party can survive its sharpest decline.