As all speculations and plans are on to gear ahead of Tuesday’s rumoured defection of Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State has come out forcefully to dismiss the reports, insisting that Mbah has given him personal assurances of continued loyalty to the PDP.
“Mbah has not told us he’s leaving,” Mohammed said during a televised interview with Symfoni TV, monitored by political analysts across the country. “It’s a personal decision. We cannot just remove his picture before he leaves. Up to now, he has not told me that he’s leaving. I know I have discussed this issue with him several times and he has given me assurances. But as I said, he’s a governor like me. He’s not under me. He’s my colleague. I respect him and I respect his decisions.”
The Bauchi governor’s remarks come as the PDP faces fresh waves of defections, increasing pressure on its national leadership and raising fears of internal instability ahead of the crucial 2027 elections. However, Mohammed, who also chairs the PDP Governors’ Forum, maintained a defiant tone—arguing that the party remains unified, nationally rooted, and more attractive to Nigerians than ever before.
“If you ask me whether I’m concerned, I am more than concerned,” he admitted. “But leadership is a burden. As a leader of a group that is of equal status, it is not in my position to really determine the decision, action, or inaction of my colleagues. But certainly, a lot of work is being done behind the scenes.”
Mohammed accused the APC-led federal government of trying to destroy multiparty democracy in Nigeria by systematically weakening opposition forces through inducement and coercion.
“You know the style of leadership of the APC-led federal government in trying to make this country a one-party state,” he said. “They have been cajoled. They have been bought. They have done a lot of things for them to do. But certainly, the state is PDP and the country is PDP because they want a change.”
He argued that many of those leaving the PDP had done so under pressure or out of political calculation—not because of dissatisfaction with the party’s values or direction. And he noted that several regretted their decision almost immediately.
“Even for those who are left, I don’t think they are finding it easy there,” he said. “Most of the people at the state or grassroots level are not happy with this defection. Sometimes it is done because of permutations and calculations.”
Mohammed also took issue with the tendency of defecting politicians to publicly disparage the PDP on their way out, calling for a more honourable and dignified exit for those who choose to leave.
“What I don’t like, as I said to the members, is for you to demarcate PDP because you want to go. If you want to go, you can go quietly. Nobody stops you.”
He rejected the narrative that the PDP is in disarray, saying the party remains the only truly national political structure with a consistent identity and stable leadership. “They are artificially trying to undermine us. But you can see as it is, we don’t have any faction in the PDP. It’s one PDP at the national level,” he said.
“Looking comparatively, most of the other parties are not even better off than PDP. We are better off than most of the opposition parties. We have one national chairman, one publicity secretary. So this gives you hope that at the end of the day, we’ll be able to deliver. Because as a big party with a history that started in 1999, we are still with the same logo, the same color, the same manifesto, the same leadership.”
Perhaps most strikingly, Mohammed claimed that some of Nigeria’s biggest political figures—both former PDP members and rivals—are in talks or being linked with the party again as 2027 approaches. He named former President Goodluck Jonathan, Labour Party’s Peter Obi, and NNPP founder Rabiu Kwankwaso as key figures who could rejoin the PDP’s ranks.
“Jonathan is coming. He’s going with Bala Mohammed. Jonathan is coming. He’s going with Kwankwaso. Obi is coming,” he said confidently. “That is what makes PDP tick. You see, people are still interested in this party. And these big names are associated with us coming to our party. Definitely, we are happy.”
He concluded with a strong warning to the ruling APC and a message of reassurance to PDP supporters, framing 2027 as a chance for Nigerians to reset the course of the nation’s leadership.
“I am still very, very optimistic that we are going to get a new set of leaders in this country in 2027 who will defeat this deceptive style of the APC,” he said. “They will be leaders recruited by Nigerians—real leaders—who will listen to their problems and address their challenges by the grace of God. So don’t worry yourself. If somebody goes, just like a barrack, so they go, so they come.”
While all eyes now remain fixed on Governor Peter Mbah and what may—or may not—happen on Tuesday, Governor Bala Mohammed has drawn a line in the sand: the PDP, he insists, is not crumbling. And Peter Mbah, he says, is not leaving.
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