The Lagos State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has watched, with a blend of disbelief and amusement, the spectacle that unfolded at the so-called 2026 PDP National Convention – an event trumpeted as a rebirth but which, in reality, resembled a political obsequies for a once-dominant party now trapped in irreversible decline.
What transpired was nothing but a charade – a poorly scripted show of confusion and desperation, an embarrassment to the political class, and a new low for an erstwhile national party that once wore the toga of invincibility and gripped the nation’s political space by the jugular. Those glory days are clearly over.
Most telling, however, was the conspicuous boycott by notable leaders of the PDP, including incumbent state governors, whose absence spoke louder than any communiqué or resolution. Their refusal to attend the non-event underscored what Nigerians have long suspected – that the PDP is terminally ill, surviving only on occasional media noise and nostalgic delusions. When a house is collapsing, even its architects flee.
To deepen the absurdity, it is ridiculous – and profoundly revealing – that as many as delegates from thirteen states stayed away entirely from the confusion christened a national convention. When a party’s own delegates choose absence over association, the diagnosis is clear: the patient is not just unwell; it is clinically unresponsive.
To compound the tragedy, the refusal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to monitor the event put a final seal on the exercise in futility. When the nation’s electoral umpire declines to acknowledge your convention, what remains is nothing but a political gathering stripped of legitimacy, relevance, and meaning.
This valedictory service, otherwise called a convention, merely provided an opportunity for the caricature of its dwindling membership to gather and formally say their nunc dimittis – their farewell – until they converge again under yet another hastily assembled platform. For many, this was not a convention but a dignified farewell to a political structure that has outlived its usefulness.
Rather than confront its deep-rooted failures – leadership rot, ideological emptiness, and years of humiliating electoral defeats – the PDP again demonstrated why Nigerians have decisively moved on. What should have symbolised renewal instead confirmed that the party is fast approaching its political expiration date.
Worse still, the PDP has now become a danger to our nascent democracy – not because it is strong, but because it has failed woefully to provide the vibrant, responsible, and constructive opposition that can add value, strengthen accountability, and present Nigerians with a viable alternative. A democracy without credible opposition is weakened; and the PDP, in its current comatose state, offers nothing but noise without substance.
As we continue the countdown to the 2027 National Elections, the events ahead promise to be interesting as this comatose, leaderless, and rudderless opposition party navigates nominations for elective positions. Without unnecessarily pre-empting the outcome, it is indeed an endgame. The PDP’s internal disarray has already written a preface to its political obituary – the rest is merely a matter of time.
The Lagos APC reiterates that, while the ruling party is consolidating reforms, strengthening institutions, and delivering governance under the dynamic leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the PDP is busy conducting the funeral rites of its own relevance.
Today’s PDP is no longer a national institution – it is a refuge for internally displaced politicians, career defectors, and political daydreamers struggling for survival. Nigerians are not confused: a party that cannot manage itself cannot offer leadership to a nation.
As the dust settles, one question confronts the PDP and its sympathizers:
Was this truly a convention, or the formal burial of a fading political empire?
Whatever the answer, Nigerians have made their choice – progress under the APC, not nostalgia under a PDP drifting toward oblivion.
Mogaji (Hon.) Oluseye Olaniran Oladejo
Lagos APC Spokesman
16/11/25
