By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
Governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State are the only two governors remaining on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as of March 9, following the defection of 10 governors from the party within one year.
The number of governors under the PDP further reduced following the defection of Dauda Lawal, the governor of Zamfara State, and his deputy, Mani Mummuni, to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday, March 9.
The defection was announced by Mummuni on Monday during a meeting with members of the State Executive Council in Gusau.
It was also confirmed by Nuhu Anka, Director-General of Media and Communication at the Office of the Governor, in a statement.
According to the statement, Lawal joined the ruling party in the “overriding interest of stability, progress, and the sustainable development of Zamfara State.”
With his defection, Lawal becomes the 10th governor among the 12 governors elected on the platform of the PDP in the 2023 general election to jump ship.
In 2025 alone, eight PDP governors left the party, mostly to the ruling APC, citing the lingering internal leadership crisis rocking the party.
The first PDP governor to defect was Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State. He left the party and joined the APC in April 2025, alongside the immediate past governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, and all members of the PDP in Delta State.
Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State followed shortly in early June 2025. He said that his decision to join the APC was borne out of his admiration for President Bola Tinubu and the need for Akwa Ibom State to align with the Federal Government to reap continuous benefits.
On October 14, 2025, the Enugu State governor, Peter Mbah, the only governor elected on the platform of the PDP in the South East region in 2023, formally joined the APC.
Mbah, while announcing his defection at a press conference in Enugu, said the move was aimed at advancing the state’s interests, stating that joining the APC would provide greater opportunities for collaboration and growth.
Barely 24 hours after Peter Mbah defected to the APC, his Bayelsa State counterpart, Duoye Diri, took the same path, citing “obvious reasons.”
While officially joining the APC on Monday, November 3, 2025, Diri said his decision was aimed at preventing Bayelsa from being dragged down by the PDP’s internal collapse and a broader Ijaw political realignment.
On Tuesday, December 9, Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, also announced his defection from the PDP to the APC to ‘fully identify’ with President Bola Tinubu and as a “gesture of reciprocity” for the consistent support, cooperation and encouragement his administration has received from Tinubu since the political crisis that shook the state in late 2023.
After resigning his membership of the PDP on December 2, 2025, citing the current crisis within the national leadership of the party, Osun State governor, Ademola Adeleke, formally joined the Accord Party on Tuesday, December 9.
In a statement posted on his X handle, Adeleke said he joined the Accord Party on November 6, 2025, after weeks of consultation and deliberations with stakeholders and opinion leaders for the good of the people of the state, and expressed optimism of winning the August 2026 governorship election.
After months of his rumoured defection, Governor Kefas Agbu of Taraba State officially defected from the PDP to the APC on December 14, 2025, citing his desire to align with President Tinubu’s ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda and attract development projects to the state.
Agbu had initially planned to announce his defection on November 19, 2025, but postponed the move due to the kidnapping of schoolgirls in Kebbi State.
Like his Taraba State counterpart, Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State was rumoured to join the APC from the PDP, which he repeatedly denied.
During the APC’s 14th National Caucus meeting on December 17, 2025, the party’s National Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda, announced Mutfwang’s defection to the party.
Mutfwang officially announced his defection on January 2.
The gale of defections from the PDP continued into 2026, with Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State joining the APC in February and Lawal being the newest defector from the party.
With the defections of the governors who were previously in the PDP, the APC now controls 31 of 36 states, while the Labour Party (LP), the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Accord Party hold one state each, as of March 9.
The APC controls all the 19 states in the South-South, North-Central, and North-West geopolitical zones.
In the South-East region, the party has the governors of Imo, Enugu, and Ebonyi on its platform, while the governors of Abia and Anambra are on the platform of the Labour Party and APGA respectively.
Four out of the six governors in the South-West geopolitical zone are on the platform of the APC, while the governors of Oyo and Osun are in the PDP and the Accord Party respectively.
In the North-East region, the APC has five of the region’s six governors on its platform, while the Bauchi State governor is in the PDP.
