More top politicians will defect from PDP - Saraki predicts party's future

Bukola Saraki, former Senate President and chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Reconciliation and Convention Committee, says political elites largely drive the recent wave of defections from the party.

Speaking during an interview on Arise TV’s Prime Time on Friday, Saraki acknowledged that the PDP is going through a challenging phase. However, he maintained that the party’s grassroots support remains solid and loyal.

“When you go round the country, the state chapters, the local government chapters, the party is still very strong in the grassroots,” he said.

“In some areas in the country, they are not even aware of what is happening at our level, in Abuja.

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“The reactions we are seeing at the grassroots give us a lot of encouragement. But what we need to do is to get to the bottom, and start to build.”

Saraki, however, warned that more high-profile exits may occur if the party does not urgently resolve its internal crisis.

“PDP would likely see one or two more defections, and we should prepare ourselves for that, there is a possibility,” he said.

“We haven’t seen the worst of the defections for PDP. We would likely see one or two governors defect, and possibly some senators as well.

“For some of us, this happening early in PDP is an advantage. We are lucky that this is not happening, let’s say late 2026, we would not even have had time to recover and regroup.

“We have just under two years to the election, and we are lucky to have that. I think, with a lot of commitment and understanding, it is not a lost cause.

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“A party of over 26 years of history, that has been around, the largest party, we will definitely have low times like this.”