Why Nigeria's one-time political giant may face extinction
Nigeria's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), once the dominant political force, is facing potential collapse due to internal factionalism and mass defections. The party is struggling to adapt to its role in opposition following its 2015 election defeat.
Why it matters
The decline of a major political party significantly alters the democratic landscape and power dynamics in Africa's most populous nation.
Once the undisputed giant of Nigerian politics, the Peoples Democratic Party now finds itself on the brink of extinction.
A question hanging over the campaign for January’s general election, which officially kicked off this week, is whether the PDP can survive.
A factional struggle that has ended up in the courts over who exactly is in charge could end up rendering it irrelevant at the ballot box.
It is a remarkable fall for the party, founded in 1998, which appeared impregnable after the end of military rule a year later – so much so that its chairman boasted in 2008 that it would govern for six decades.
For 16 years, it controlled the presidency – in the shape of Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and then Goodluck Jonathan – and the vast majority of the country’s 36 states.
But the 2015 federal election was a seismic shock.
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