2027 Polls: Kwankwaso, Others Will Return To New Look PDP — Damagun

• Says we’re reaching out to all stakeholders

BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – With eyes on getting things right ahead of the 2027 general elections, Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), will be reaching out to former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and other bigwigs who fumped the party for various reasons.

The plan is to persuade all defectors and high-profile members currently sitting on the fence to return home to the party that held so much promise and offered many the desired platform to launch and nurture their political careers.

According to the PDP Acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagun, though things have not been smooth sailing in recent years, the party has only down but not out given the ambitious plans to relaunch itself for future electoral battles and political relevance in the country.

Damagun, who was reacting to Kwankwaso’s remarks that the PDP is “dead” and cannot achieve any significant success in the future, said in an interview with the BBC that despite facing numerous challenges in its over 26 years of existence and still counting, the PDP remains strong under the same name with governors, senators and House of Representatives members across all the nation’s six geo-political regions.

He said the PDP was ready to welcome back all former members who left the party, including Senator Kwankwaso, noting that it was the party that “nurtured his political career and brought him to where he is today.”

Insisting on PDP’s strength and capabilities, the National Chairman said; “People are entitled to their opinions, but I want to remind him of the past. When they left the PDP in 2015, if the party didn’t die back then, during a time they thought they had weakened it, I don’t see why anyone would claim it is dead now.

“Let’s not forget that the PDP remains the only party capable of winning elections if you exclude the ruling APC.”

Describing Kwankwaso’s statement as unjust to himself, Damagun said his criticisms notwithstanding, Kwankwaso recorded important and landmark political victories deploying the PDP platform in the past.

He further boasted that even if four other parties in the country came together in the merger being proposed in some quarters, they still would not be able to match the PDP’s strength nationwide

However, the PDP Chairman, while admitting the validity of Kwankwaso’s allegations of being marginalised in the nation’s main opposition party which makes it quite unlikely to have a working partnership ahead of 2027 general elections, said most of those issues and grievances raised were on the front burner for resolution.

According to him, during Kwankwaso’s initial plans to quit the PDP, himself as the then Deputy National Chairman for the North, did his best to address the issues and reconcile the feuding parties but the efforts proved unsuccessful.

He further stated; “That said, there is no party better than the PDP for Kwankwaso. The party nurtured his political career and brought him to where he is today. We still hope he will return to work with us to rebuild our party and confront this oppressive government”

For Damagun, God willing, the party will soon reach out to Kwankwaso despite knowing he was angry, adding that his aspirations might not be achievable in his current party.

However, he expressed optimism that all contentious issues would be address in their typical ‘family affair’ manner, the National Chairman said; “The PDP has always been a party that welcomes back any of its members who left in anger”, assuring that; “Whenever they return, we give them opportunities just like everyone else”.

Forefront News recalls that commenting on the state of the nations late 2024, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, who was the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP)’s flag-bearer in the 2023 presidential election, described the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a “dead party”.

Similarly, Leader of the popular Kwankwasiyya Movement knocked the All Progressives Congress (APC) for losing touch with the harsh economic realities that Nigerians are grappling with and scored the President Bola Tinubu-led ruling party very low in performance.